Badgers clean house at home invitational, now 5-0
Matt Harris
Staff writer
11-17-2016
RICHFIELD—The Snow College men’s basketball team is on a hot streak following their impressive tournament showing last weekend.
The Badgers hosted their annual Badger Invitational at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield and cleaned house with three straight wins to stay undefeated at 5-0 on the season. Snow consecutively throttled Montana Western, Central Arizona, and Eastern Wyoming by an average margin of victory over 40 points.
“This is a fun team to coach,” head coach Rob Nielson says.
Montana Western, a Division III university in the NCAA, proved to be little more than a warm-up for the Badgers. Snow hammered the JV squad from start to finish in a 66-point victory, 118-52.
Sophomore Riley Panter led all scorers with 27 points, including a highlight-reel dunk. Montana Western would eventually concede over 110 points in all three of their contests.
The Badgers got a truer test against Central Arizona. The Vaqueros pushed Snow for the entire first half. It wasn’t until the second half that a powerful offensive effort took over for Snow, pacing to Badgers to a 35-point victory, 85-50.
Four sophomores led the way for Snow with double-digit scoring, led by sophomore forward Mason Rich with 15 points.
To finish the tournament, Snow faced Eastern Wyoming. The Lancers were the first team in the Invitational to establish a solid lead on the Badgers when they led at halftime, 48-41.
EWC was led by a slick offensive game from freshman guard Jordan Mirich. Mirich hit just about any shot he wanted to in the first half and went into halftime already with 18 points.
Snow made the needed adjustments in the second half, and it showed in a big way. Dominating on offensive rebounds and getting a huge second half from freshman guard A.J. Jones, Snow scored a ridiculous 65 points in the second half to coast to another lopsided victory, 106-86.
Mirich disappeared for the Lancers until late in the game when he chipped in a few more shots to lead EWC in scoring with 26 points.
The Badgers effectively spread the scoring around, and every single Snow player who logged playing time had at least two points. Six different Badgers scored in double-digits, led by sophomore forward Blake Truman with 18 points. Jones score 16 points all in the second half. Three different players scored 14, and forward Roman Louiserre chipped in 11. Those six scorers alone outscored the Lancers 87-86.
The Badger offense has scored more than 85 points in all but one of their games this season. Their average margin of victory is well over 25 points.
Snow is traveling to Oregon this week and will play in the Portland Community College Tournament. They will face Green River on Saturday and either North Idaho or Portland on Saturday.
