BADGERS COMPLETE SWEEP OVER CEU
by Tyler Hughes

Badgers Look To Gain A 1st Place Ranking In The Conference

In-state basketball recruits take notice: Snow College is the place to be. The Badgers finished with an impressive 6-2 record over in-state opponents, Salt Lake Community and the College of Eastern Utah. Further, Snow has won all four contests against CEU during the 2006-07 regular season.

Listed below are the game summaries for this weekend’s action versus CEU.

GAME 1

The Badgers took the floor needing to pick up a pair of victories over CEU as they led by just one game in conference play. The College of Eastern Utah played a tough 1st half and eventually took a 33-30 lead into the break and although the Eagles led at the break and shot 10% better from the field than did Snow (51.7% to 41.2%), the Badgers were only trailing by 3 points.

After halftime, Snow proved to CEU that they were in fact the better team as they outscored the Eagles 43-28 in the 2nd half to run away with a 73-61 victory.

Freshman center, Adrien Sturt, had a huge night for Snow College as he produced a team-high 27 points. Sturt’s 27 was also a season-high for the big man from Brisbane, Australia. Geoff Payne added 14 points and 13 rebounds giving Payne his fourth double-double on the season. Heath Gameron, coming off of the bench, tallied 9 points and had 6 assists, which was a game-high.

GAME 2

As Snow College took the floor for their fourth and final regular season game versus Eastern Utah, they knew a win would place them comfortably into 2nd place heading into a huge showdown with the College of Southern Idaho the next weekend. Snow did not overlook the Golden Eagles, which is a sign of a good team; however the game did require some clutch play down the stretch to finish off CEU. Fortunately for Snow, they have a great coach who knows how to handle tight spots and they have a great player that can execute when the game is on the line.

Coach Roger Reid’s ball club found themselves in a great position, while holding a 52-35 lead early on in the 2nd half. Snow was shooting the ball well and playing well on the defensive end. This play gave Snow the ability to jump out to a commanding lead.

CEU; however, would claw their way back into the game as they were powered by guard, Tyler Kepkay. Kepkay is the conference’s leading scorer and averaging 29.9 points per game. He was able to tally 31 on Saturday night.

Snow’s lead was lost when CEU took a 58-57 advantage with five minutes to play in the game following a bucket by Kepkay. Coach Reid, clearly challenging his team during a time out, saw the Golden Eagles lead extend to five while pushing the score to 64-59.

Snow was able to cut the lead to three when sophomore point guard, Jake Peterson put together a beautiful 3-point play to knot the score up at 64 apiece. This followed to missed shot attempts by Kepkay that kept the lead at 3.

Geoff Payne nailed two free throws to give the Badgers the lead again, but it was quickly tied back up after Anthony Oliver connected for two points for CEU. With only 18 seconds remaining in regulation, Snow College’s defense stepped up to force a tough shot by Kepkay and off the miss blocked a 2nd shot attempt by CEU, which sent the game to overtime.

In overtime, Payne displayed why he was the SWAC Player of the Year during the 2005-06 season and why he should be awarded with that distinction again as a sophomore. What can be more valuable than a player who can carry a team in an overtime period, on the road, and against a tough opponent?

Payne did just that as he scored all of Snow’s 9 overtime points including a tremendous 3-point play as well as dropping five clutch free throws. And as brilliant as Kepkay is for CEU, he missed shot attempts at the end of regulation and in overtime, whereas Payne continued to deliver. Payne for the night, finished with 40 points and 12 rebounds.

Snow with the 75-74 win advances to 19-7 overall and 11-5 in the conference. They host the College of Southern Idaho in Ephraim this weekend and look to gain a 1st place ranking in the conference.

The games will be held on Friday, February 23rd and on Saturday, February 24th with the tip-off set for 7:30 PM for each contest. The games can also be heard locally on KMTI radio as well as at snowbadgers.com