BADGERS SEASON ENDS
by Kevin White

Snow College Looses In First Round To CEU 63-78

COUER D’ALENE – As the final seconds ticked down Thursday night in Couer d’alene, sophomore point guard Donnie Lao felt the emotions start to swell within. The Hillcrest High grad who came to Snow College on an academic scholarship and ended up earning second-team All-Conference honors knew it would be his final game at Snow College and the feeling of loss immediately crept in as the Badgers fell to the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) 78-63 in the first round of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) tournament.

“I just didn’t want it to end,” Lao said. “This has been a huge part of my life and I have grown up the past two years. It hurts to know that we don’t have practice or play again tomorrow.”

The feeling was mutual for fellow Sophomores Ryan Brimley, Rory Patterson, Everton de Araujo, and David Slezak as each addressed his teammates after the game.

“These guys are my family,” Araujo said. “Coming from Brazil, this team became my reason for staying and competing.”

Each of the sophomores will most likely have an opportunity to continue playing in years to come, however that didn’t erase the sting from the first-round loss.

“I thought we competed all 40 minutes,” said Coach Michael Ostlund. “Nobody in our conference outworks us. We just fell short tonight.”

The Badgers fell behind early and trailed by 12 at the half. CEU pushed the lead to 18 at 50-32 before the Badgers began their customary claw-back. After Snow cut the lead back to nine at 62-53 it was a barrage of three-point shots by Aaron England, Darrington Hobson and Chandler Pearson that slammed the door ending the Badgers hopes for an underdog victory.

The Badgers finished the season 18-13 and 5-10 in SWAC play.