EPHRAIM—The Snow College men's basketball team upped its record to 9-1 with a pair of wins this weekend at its own tournament in Ephraim. Victories over Impact Academy, 106-65, and ABCD, 84-64, extend the Badgers' win streak to six games.

     Both Impact and ABCD are academies specifically designed to prepare high school graduates to be college basketball student-athletes with intense on court practice combined with classes at local community colleges. Impact is located in Las Vegas and ABCD in Urbandale, Iowa.

     On Friday, Connor Van Brocklin led the way as the Badgers rushed to a 49-28 lead at halftime. The Badger sophomore finished with 21 points though he played only 23 minutes. The lopsided score gave head coach Rob Nielson a chance to look at a lot of players as 12 different Badgers had double digit minutes of playing time.

     Nielson was pleased with the Badgers' effort on the offensive end, but said they need to “get better defensively.” The head coach went on to say, “We have three more games and then league starts. We have to get polished, so these three games are very important for league play.”

     Casey Taylor scored 15 points against Impact, Brad Mears added 12 and Cheikh Sane had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Sane also had two blocked shots.

     Snow had 56 rebounds to only 34 for Impact, and the Badgers led in the assist department by a lopsided 19-5. About half of Snow's points, 52 of their 106, came from in the paint. Jonathan Bell led Impact with 17 points and Anthony Roberson had nine rebounds.

     The next night Snow again jumped out to a big lead, 44-28, at the break and Neilson was able to put 10 different players on the floor for double digit minutes.

     Four Badgers were in double digits with Van Brocklin and Brock Smith each scoring 13 points. London Simonsen added 12 and Haudrick Hilaire chipped in 11. Sane had a near repeat performance putting up nine points and pulling down 11 boards in only 16 minutes of playing time.

     Damjan Sredanovic, who played for Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant last year, had a game-high 17 points for ABCD. Rebounds doomed the visitors as Snow pulled down 38 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive glass, while ABCD had only 21 rebounds with a single offensive board. The Badgers played better team ball with 23 assists to only 13 for ABCD.

     “The team was very unselfish, looking for the extra pass to get an open shot,” Nielson said. “If we continue with that kind of play we will get better.”

     With their lofty record, the Badgers were just out of the NJCAA Top 25 National Poll last week, coming in at No. 26. They could move up this week with their pair of wins. North Idaho College is the only SWAC school in the Top 25, coming in last week at No. 21. This week the Badgers will entertain the Southern Colorado Kings on both Friday and Saturday nights in the Horne Activity Center.