Bruins beat short-handed Badgers
By James Tilson
Staff writer
Jan. 18, 2018
EPHRAIM—Short-handed some basketball players from suspension and injury, the Badgers of Snow College fought hard in a Southwest Athletic Conference game against the visiting Bruins of Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) but fell short, 83-77.
Romain Boxus led all scorers with 20 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists for the Badgers.
With Logan Hokanson, Stockton Shorts and Jayden Coke sitting out the game for suspension, the primary ball-handling duties fell to Tristan Sadler, who also scored in double figures with 11 points.
Then Sadler had to leave the game halfway through the second half after having taken an elbow to his eye. Snow’s coach, Rob Nielson, called Sadler’s injury “a turning point.”
Nielson added, “Not having a ball handler the last seven or eight minutes put us in a position we had not been in before. Others stepped up, but we weren’t able to make key plays down the stretch.”
When Sadler went down, the Bruins went on an 8-0 run, taking the lead, and the Badgers never recovered. Nielson commented, “Not having our entire team hurt us in the second half. Fatigue was a factor.”
A surprising, bright spot for the Badgers was a new player.
Center Braydon Holder made his first appearance for the Badgers and scored an efficient five points in nine minutes, shooting 2-3 in field goals and 1-1 in free throws.
“Holder is here to play football. He will become a bigger part of our team in future games as he becomes familiar with our system. He will fill the gap left when Truman Moore went out.”
Moore was injured early in the season and will not return for the rest of the year.
Nielson said Sadler will recover for the Badgers’ next game. However, the suspensions are indefinite, and the coach could not say when those three players will return.
The Badgers fell to 10-8 for the season, 0-2 in conference play.
The Badgers next play Utah State–Eastern tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Ephraim. Then they travel to Rangely, Colo., to take on Colorado Northwestern Community College on Saturday.
