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EPHRAIM — The Snow College men's basketball team travelled to Casper, Wyo., over Thanksgiving Break, winning two of three games they played in the Optimum Thanksgiving Classic. The Badgers defeated Northwest Kansas Technical College, 74-70, and Lamar Community College, 72-66, before ending their three-week, six-game win streak with a 71-70 loss to tournament host Casper College.

On Thanksgiving, Badger forward Aziz Leeks led Snow to a 74-70 win over the Mavericks of Northwest Kansas Technical College as he registered a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Snow shot 53 percent from both two-point and three-point range while holding the Mavericks to 42 percent inside the arc and 37 percent from beyond. The Badgers had a shaky night at the line, making only six of their 15 free throw attempts (40 percent).

Romain Louiserre came off the bench to lead the Badgers in scoring with 17 points while Walter Wright added 13 points and Gentrey Thomas scored 12. Leeks dished out six assists and Wright dealt out five. DeAngelo Stewart led the Mavericks with 18 points. 

On Friday following a noon tipoff, Snow trailed Lamar (Colorado) 31-27, but put together a strong second half in which the Badgers outscored Lamar 45-35 to finish with a 72-66 win, their sixth in a row. Wright led the way with 25 points including three of four from three-point range. Louiserre had another strong game with 16 points and nine rebounds, just one board short of a double-double. Thomas also had nine rebounds for the Badgers and Chris O'Neill had a game-high five assists. Tiwian Kendley led Lamar with 17 points. 

Saturday night, Snow played against the tournament host, Casper College, and had their win streak halted at six games as the Thunderbirds came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to steal a 71-70 win over the Badgers. Snow stretched its lead to 14 points four minutes into the second half, but Casper went on a 19-4 run over the next six minutes to take its first lead of the game at 50-49 with 7:37 remaining. The Thunderbirds were ahead by nine with two minutes remaining, but Le'Jon Johnson drained a pair of free throws and Wright scored Snow's last seven points as the Badgers outscored their hosts 10-3 to pull within one point at the end.

Wright finished with 25 points for the second game in a row, going nine for 14 from the field and dishing out seven assists while pulling down a team-high six rebounds. Leeks added 12 points for the Badgers and Thomas scored 11. Dylan Alexander scored 16 to pace Casper. Snow improved its shooting at the line by canning 17 of 23 free throws, but got beat on the boards with only 27 rebounds to the Thunderbirds' 35.

The Badgers will be back in Wyoming this weekend taking on Northwest Wyoming College and Western Wyoming Community College, with both games being played in Rock Springs. Snow will open play in the Scenic West Athletic Conference on Dec. 11 at Colorado Northwestern and then continue league play two nights later in Price when they take on USU-Eastern.