SNOW KNOCKS OFF CSI 75-69
by Kevin White

Snow College moves to 18-8 with win over CSI

Snow College Men’s basketball coach Michael Ostlund had one more monkey to get off his back as the head man in Ephraim. That was to finally beat the College of Southern Idaho (CSI). In his two years the Badgers had dropped five straight to the ultra-talented Golden Eagles, including a 27-point drubbing in Twin Falls earlier this season. However it was the determined will of point guard Donnie Lao and the sweet-shooting of Ryan Brimley that finally got Ostlund his long-awaited victory 75-69 on Saturday night.

Lao dominated the bigger, quicker CSI defenders en-route to a 15 point, seven rebound, nine assist performance.

“What an absolute stud,” Ostlund said of his point guard. “Over the past few weeks he has turned himself into a real Division one player. He plays with such heart and tenacity.”

Brimley shrugged off a cold shooting night on Friday (a 61-54 loss) to pour in 23 points on 6-10 from three-point range.

“Finally,” said the sophomore from Hillcrest High School. “It has been a few weeks since I have been able to stroke it like that. I just got in a nice rhythm tonight and Donny controlled the tempo.”

After the track meet in Twin Falls, a 102-75 CSI victory, it was Ostlund’s strategy to use the shot clock and search for open shots. Lao made his coach look prophetic with his masterpiece performance on Saturday night.

“We know they like to transition and we worked hard all week to be more patient and look for open shots,” said Ostlund. “It is always easy as a coach to draw it on the board but it is up to the players to go out and execute. Our guys did that tonight.”

Freshmen Riley Crosbie and Melvin Haynes pitched in 10 and 8 points respectively while Cameron Evans added six points and eight rebounds for the Badgers.

With the win the Badgers (5-6 in conference and 18-8 overall) are now tied for fourth place with the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) in the difficult Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC). The Badgers and CEU face off this weekend in a pivotal two-game series that could ultimately determine the difference between third and fifth place. Games will be at 7:30 PM on Saturday and 5:00 PM on Saturday.