PETERSON PROVES A POINT
by Rick Pike

Four Badgers Score in Double Figures for Second Straight Game

RANGELY, Colo-January 21, 2006 -Coach Roger Reid called it coming of age in Colorado. Snow’s freshman point guard, Jake Peterson, handed out 14 assists and scored 10 points to lead the Badgers to a 79-50 win at Colorado Northwestern Saturday. Peterson, a true freshman out of Bingham High, had 10 assists and six points in Friday’s win at Colorado. Reid praised his point guard following a second strong performance.

“He (Jake) matured a lot in these two games. They really got into him over at our place last week and while he played all right he was so solid over here,” said Reid.

A lot of teams have taken advantage of Peterson’s size and inexperience this season; but the younger brother of former Badger quarterback Paul Peterson has shown improvement since league play began.

“Due to his size and strength we’ve been doing some different things to get the ball up the floor, but he’s our best floor leader,” explained Reid. “Jake’s really beginning to understand what we want from him on offense and defense.”

Reid was happy with the entire team’s execution on offense and defense. There were four ties early in the first half; but with the game tied at 17 Snow finished the half on a 25-5 run en route to a 42-22 halftime lead.

“We executed and scored and scored and scored,” exclaimed Reid. “These guys are really getting it – they’re doing in games what we do in practice.”
During the 25-5 run Snow had 15 possessions and scored at least one point or more on 13 of them. The Spartans, meanwhile, managed a point or more on just four of 14 possessions.

“The defense was just as important tonight. We gave up 90 points to this team at Snow. Tonight we hold them to 50,” remarked Reid.

Snow shot 48% from the field and held the Spartans to just 29%. Colorado’s scoring leader, Laron Frazier, still scored 18 points Saturday but it was far from the 38 he poured in at Snow. He had just 16 points in Snow’s win Friday.

Meanwhile, Geoff Payne finished with a double-double for the second night in a row (20 points and 10 rebounds). Payne leads the league in scoring with a 20-point average. He only played about half the game due to foul trouble and Reid’s giving bench players some time in the second half.

“In a game like this when so many contribute I still don’t want to overlook him (Payne), said Reid. “He goes out every night and plays his guts out even with three guys on him.”

Besides Payne’s and Peterson’s points, Mike Clark finished with 15 and Tyler Quinney had 11 points and nine rebounds. Chris Hoopes also played another strong game, finishing with seven points and seven rebounds.

The Badgers move to 3-5 in SWAC play and host Salt Lake Community College Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Activity Center.