EPHRAIM – The Snow College Badgers came up with a big win Saturday, downing No. 20 ranked Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), 70-63, at the Horne Activity Center in Ephraim. The upset win creates a logjam in the middle of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) standings as teams jockey for seeding positions in the post-season tournament which will be played at Snow College beginning Feb. 27.
Southern Idaho, ranked No. 2 nationally, now has a stranglehold on the top spot in the conference at 11-1, with SLCC two games behind at 8-3. Then comes USU-Eastern and North Idaho at 5-7 with Snow nipping at their heels at 4-7. Since the three teams are tied in the loss column with seven losses each, they each control their own destiny and can claim third place in the league if they win out. Colorado Northwestern is at 2-10 with wins over USU-Eastern and North Idaho.
Snow and SLCC were tied at 17 midway through the first half on Saturday, but then Snow went into overdrive to outscore the Bruins 24-6 over the last 10 minutes of the half. Freshman guard
Chandler Smith drained a three at the buzzer to send Snow into the locker room with a 41-23 lead. Snow shot 48 percent from the field in the first half while holding SLCC to 30 percent, and grabbed 19 rebounds to SLCC's 14.
Snow's big men,
Nate Aland and
Larenz Stalcup, each scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds apiece while putting the clamps on 6'11" Bruin center Neal Monson. The Badger duo held Monson to nine points and four rebounds, and kept him scoreless in the second half.
"We wanted to set a tone in the beginning of the game by establishing our post game," said Snow head coach Rob Nielson. "Nate and Larenz did a great job in defending and scoring which frustrated the SLCC big men." Monson, who averages over 14 points per game, looked so unnerved by the pressure play of Snow's big men that he put up two three-pointers, which both missed the mark. Monson had only taken four three-pointers before Saturday's game, and never before had taken two in the same game.
"We need to continue to work so we can have a strong post presence each game," Nielson said. "We have some big guys and they have been working hard – it's nice to see the hard work pay off."
Forward
Anthony Morris also grabbed six rebounds for Snow while point guard
Walter Wright led all scorers with 17 points and dished out a game high seven assists. Badger guard
Gentrey Thomas scored 15 points including 3 for 6 from three-point range, all in the second half, the only player on either team to make more than one trey. Wright and Thomas took turns carrying the Badger offensive load with Wright scoring 15 of his 17 points in the first half, and Thomas scoring 13 of his 15 in the second.
Gary Payton II and Jaden Jackson each scored 13 to lead the Bruins. Payton was game's only player to pull down double-digit rebounds, finishing with 11 boards. Snow held the Bruins to 19 points below their season average. The Bruins' 34 percent from the field against Snow is their lowest since a Nov. 15 loss to Casper College.
Snow hits the road this week to play at Southern Idaho on Thursday and North Idaho on Saturday. The following week the Badgers will close out the regular season hosting USU-Eastern on Thursday, Feb. 20 and Colorado Northwestern on Saturday, Feb. 22. All SWAC teams will congregate in Ephraim for the conference tournament at Snow College from Feb. 27 through March 1.
