EPHRAIM—The Snow College men lost their second straight heartbreaker at home Saturday night, 67-66, to the No. 15 ranked Salt Lake Bruins. Snow took a 66-65 one-point lead on Brock Smith's free throw with less than a half minute left in the game, but Salt Lake's JuWan Buchanan hit a 12-foot jumper with eight seconds left to give the Bruins the win.

     Salt Lake strengthens its hold on first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) with the win, staying undefeated in league play at 6-0 and 18-2 overall. Snow drops to 3-3 and 15-5 overall but remains in third place in the SWAC.

     Smith grabbed an offensive rebound, his seventh and the Badgers' 16th of the game, and was fouled with 29 seconds remaining and the score tied at 65. Smith missed his first foul shot but hit the second to set up Buchanan's game winner. Smith finished with nine points, including 3 of 4 from the free throw line, and a game-high ten rebounds.

     Badger point guard Nick Gruninger led all scorers with 20 points and dished out six assists. Gruninger missed both road games last week after being injured near the end of Snow's last home game two weeks earlier when they lost 84-77 in overtime to North Idaho after it looked like the Badgers had wrapped up the game in regulation.

     “Nick's a leader and it's great to have him back, but he was a little rusty” said Badger head coach Rob Nielson. “His shot wasn't quite where it usually is.” Gruninger was 8 for 27 from the field for the Badgers who shot only 32 percent as a team.

     Cheikh Sane had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Badgers. Skyler Halford led the Bruins with 16 points and Buchanan had 14. Salt Lake shot 44 percent as a team.

     The game was tight the whole way with 19 lead changes, 15 of those in the second half. Snow had a nine-point lead midway through the first half, the biggest lead for either team in the game. Salt Lake's biggest lead of the night was only three points. Snow led 29-27 at the half, but had a tough time down the stretch in both halves, unable to score from the floor during the last three minutes of the opening period and the last two minutes of the second half.

     The Badgers make their toughest road trip of the season this week, taking on No. 14 ranked North Idaho (6-1, 19-3) in Coeur D'Alene on Thursday, and then Southern Idaho (3-4, 15-6) in Twin Falls on Saturday.