No. 1 Snow closes home slate with post-season implications
Photo by Kyle Parry.
EPHRAIM — The top-ranked team in the country returns to the Horne Activity Center this week with history and postseason positioning on the line.
No. 1 Snow College (25-1, 10-1 Scenic West Athletic Conference) will play its final two home games of the regular season Thursday against Salt Lake Community College and Saturday against Colorado Northwestern Community College. Thursday’s tipoff is set for 7 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. start Saturday.
The Badgers enter the week ranked No. 1 in the latest NJCAA Division I poll with a 25-1 record. They have won seven straight games since their lone loss of the season and are 11-0 at home this year.
Snow defeated Utah State University Eastern 84-64 last week in Ephraim to secure its 25th win of the season. The victory kept the Badgers tied with College of Southern Idaho for the most wins in the NJCAA and marked the first time since 2002 that Snow has recorded 25 wins in consecutive seasons.
Head coach Andrew May sits at 98-22 in his fourth season at Snow College. With two victories this week, he would reach 100 career wins with the Badgers and become just the fourth head coach in program history to reach that milestone.
Snow’s offense continues to set the tone. The Badgers average 93.2 points per game while allowing 72.9, a scoring margin of more than 20 points per contest. They shoot 50.4 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point range, ranking sixth nationally from beyond the arc.
Against USUE, Snow erased a one-point halftime deficit with a dominant second half. The Badgers outscored the Eagles 48-27 after the break while holding them to 28 percent shooting. Snow finished the night at 48 percent overall and knocked down 12 3-pointers.
Sam Sivulich led all scorers with 25 points, hitting 7 of 12 from 3-point range. Max Toombs added a career-high 19 points, and James Rust contributed 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Individually, McCaden Adams leads the team in scoring at 18.1 points per game, followed by Brock McClure at 14.6 and Sean Felts at 12.9. McClure also averages 8.8 rebounds per game, while Felts pulls down 6.5.
Salt Lake Community College enters Thursday at 10-16 overall and 3-9 in conference play, currently fifth in the SWAC standings. The Bruins are outside the Region 18 Tournament picture and have dropped four straight games.
Colorado Northwestern is 4-23 overall and 0-12 in conference play. The Spartans have lost 13 consecutive games and have been eliminated from postseason contention.
After this weekend, Snow will close the regular season on the road at North Idaho and No. 4 College of Southern Idaho. The finale in Twin Falls is expected to determine which program hosts the Region 18 Tournament.