Following last two victories, Badgers have a good shot at Region 18 title

By James Tilson

02-21-2019

SALT LAKE CITY—With two more victories last week, the Snow College men’s basketball team moved into first place in the Scenic West Athletic conference and set up a winner take all game with Southern Idaho tonight in the Horne Activity Center.

“It’s a big game on Thursday,” said Head Coach Rob Neilson. “The winner is the region champ, and will get the top seed in the tournament.”

The Badgers moved to 23-6 overall, and 8-3 in the SWAC. They have a one-game lead over Southern Idaho, who the Badgers play in their last regular season game. With a win, the Badgers will win the conference outright, and secure the No. 1 seed in the Region 18 Tournament. The winner of the conference tournament will also secure an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament.

To make the victories even sweeter, the win on Saturday was against Snow’s arch-rival, Salt Lake Community College. By winning on Saturday, the Badgers completed a season sweep of the Bruins, a first in program history.

“It’s big to beat a quality program like SLCC,” said Neilson. “It’s the first time in many years to beat them more than once!”

The victory against SLCC also marked a break-out for Truman Moore, who had struggled somewhat in recent games. Against the Bruins, he tied with Brayden Johnson for high score with 15 points, and grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds. “Truman is being more aggressive on both ends. He’s getting more touches and hitting shots. It’s really big for us when he is rebounding well.”

Winning four of their last five games, the Badgers are peaking at the right time for the conference tournament. “We are playing well right now. We’re playing together and moving without the ball much better. But we have to maintain tough play. We are very good when we play hard.”

The Badgers face Southern Idaho tonight in the Horne Activity Center, tip-off at 7:30 p.m.