EPHRAIM—The Snow College men's basketball team closed out the regular season with a flourish last week, beating USU-Eastern (CEU) in Price and Colorado Northwestern (CNCC) in Rangely, Colo., to finish league play on a three-game win streak. The Badgers downed CEU 81-58 on Thursday and followed that up with a 66-63squeaker over CNCC on Saturday.

     At CEU the Badgers had a complete team effort, playing perhaps their best game of the season. Three Badgers were in double figures - Nick Gruninger leading the way with 13 points, Connor Van Brocklin adding 12 points and Roberts Baltruns with 11. Sophomore Cheikh Sane pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for Snow.

      “It was one of our best games,” said Badger head coach Rob Nielson. “We really worked hard as a team and shot the ball well.” Gruninger, who has been battling nagging injuries and illness for a month, looked like his old self, dishing out nine assists in addition to leading the team in scoring.

     Ten different Badgers scored, seven of them with seven points or more. The Badgers shot 65 percent from the field, their best performance of the season. As a team, Snow was 11-for-20 (55 percent) from 3-point range. Snow led 38-26 at the half.

     Jason Timpf led CEU with a game-high 14 points. CEU dropped to 4-11 in league play and 14-16 overall.

     Snow had a tougher time against CNCC on Saturday than they had planned on. Snow trailed by six at the half, 31-25, but put together a good second half to pull out the win. “We overlooked them,” Nielson said. “In the second half we came out strong, played hard, and made some needed free throws towards the end.” CNCC hurt itself shooting only 8-of-16 on free throws, while Snow was 11-of-16 from the line.

     Sane with 15 points led four Badgers who scored in double figures, including Baltruns with 12, and Gruninger and Brock Smith with 10 apiece. Sane and Baltruns each had five rebounds to lead the Badgers. CNCC's Thomas Powers went off for 26 points to lead all scorers, including 7-of-9 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

     With the wins Snow finishes the regular season at 8-7 in the SWAC (Scenic West Athletic Conference) and 20-9 overall. They finish in third place behind Salt Lake Community (14-1) and North Idaho (13-2) who both earn byes in the opening round of the SWAC post season tournament which opens on Thursday in Coeur d'Alene, Ida. Snow will open the tourney against CNCC with the winner taking on North Idaho. The winner of Thursday's Southern Idaho / CEU contest will take on top seeded Salt Lake.