EPHRAIM—The Snow College men's basketball team ran its record to 7-1 with two wins in the Thanksgiving Classic in Salt Lake City. The Badgers pulled out a 74-73 win over the Eastern Wyoming Lancers on Friday and then beat ProLook 88-86 on Saturday.

     Eastern Wyoming started off quickly on Friday, taking an 8-2 lead three minutes into the game. The Lancers held onto the lead throughout the first half, building it to as many as 10 points. They took a 36-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.

     Snow pulled to within three points on buckets by #Casey Taylor#, #Brock Smith# and #Connor Van Brocklin# early in the second half, but then went cold with a series of fouls and turnovers. The Lancers capitalized on the Badger miscues and went ahead 52-39. Snow then went on a 10-2 run over the next five minutes led by Smith and Roberts Baltruns to cut the lead to five.

     Snow finally tied the score at 63 with 5:36 left to play on a jumper by Van Brocklin - the first tie since it was 2-2 early in the game. Van Brocklin hit another jumper a minute later to give Snow its first lead of the game. The Badger sophomore made it seven in a row with a 3-pointer after a Lancer miss to put Snow up by five.

     Eastern Wyoming fought back and retook the lead by one on a Prescott Williams lay-up with 38 seconds left. But Van Brocklin was fouled with eight seconds remaining and calmly sank both free throws for the win.

     Head coach #Rob Nielson# is pleased with how his team is progressing early in the season. “Roberts (Baltruns) hit key buckets to keep us in the game and take the lead,” Nielson said. “The team is working to get better at taking advantage of the mismatches our offense creates.”

     Van Brocklin finished with 24 points and six rebounds. Baltruns scored 16 and Smith added 15 points along with a game-high 10 rebounds. “Brock again came up with a couple of huge offensive rebounds,” Nielson said.

     On Saturday the Badgers again trailed at halftime, 45-42, against ProLook, a team of former college players such as BYU standout Mekeli Wesley (2001 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year) and Jake Chrisman who played both basketball and baseball at BYU before playing basketball professionally in Europe.

     ProLook led by as many as eight in the second half until the Badgers came back, taking the lead at the 10:40 mark when #Nick Gruninger# sank four free throws in a row as ProLook's Chrisman was called for a foul and followed that up with a technical.

     The game stayed close the rest of the way with neither team being able to take more than a two-point lead. Smith got a tip-in with 0:44 left to put Snow up by one at 85-84. Wesley then put ProLook ahead by one on a jumper with 15 seconds to go, but Van Brocklin scored from the paint with eight seconds left and was fouled to give the Badgers the 88-86 win.

     “Nick and Connor did a great job leading the team,” Nielson said. “And Brock continues to be a force underneath for us.”

     Gruninger led the Badgers with 21 points and Van Brocklin finished with 18. Smith again led all rebounders with 11 to go with his 12 points. #London Simonsen# added 13 points for Snow. Chrisman had a game-high 26 points for ProLook and Wesley finished with 21.

     Snow hosts the Subway Classic this Friday and Saturday in Ephraim.  The Badgers will play at 7:30 p.m. both nights.

Story by: Doug Johnson