Snow College played a tough past five games, winning two and losing three. They played against Utah State Eastern (2 games), Colorado Northwest Community College, No.1 College of Southern Idaho, and No.5 Salt Lake Community College.
Snow’s first game against Utah State Eastern they lost, 76-55.
In the first 10 minutes of the first half, both teams went basket for basket. However, the Eagles slowly began to pull away. Three different Eagles each scored eight in the first half, and USUE led at halftime, 37-23.
Coming out of the half, both teams again went shot for shot. The Badger offense performed better in the second half scoring 32, but it was not enough to overcome the Eagles’ 39.
USUE’s Jack Jemele led all scorers with 20 points. The Badgers’ point leaders were Dylan Jones with 10
and Jamir Stephens with 9.
In Snow's next game they played against Colorado Northwestern Community College. In this game, Snow bounced back with an 87-63 win.
In the first half, the Badgers came ready to play and scored the first 4 points of the game. The Spartans then answered back, tying the game up. The Badgers then went on a 5-0 run.
CNCC was able to briefly keep the game close early on, but the Badgers began to pull away. A 7-0 run seemed to be the deciding factor for the first half (and possibly the game). The Badgers extended their lead and did not look back, ending the first half, 39-19.
Snow was able to maintain their lead in the second half, leading by as many as 29 points, and ultimately, they came out on top, 87-63.
The bench for Snow had a solid game, scoring 34 points. The Badgers also cut down significantly on their turnovers, only coughing up 13. Snow was able to capitalize on CNCC’s mistakes, scoring 22 off turnovers to the Spartans’ 4.
In the game against No.1 CSI, the Badgers had a close game, only losing by five points. The final score was 83-78.
The Badgers and CSI started off the first half by going shot for shot in the first eight minutes. Until CSI went on a six-point run. The Badgers answered, going on an 11-point run. In the first half, the Badgers’ point leader was Jamir Stephens with 10. CSI was led by Isaiah Moses with 13. The Badgers went into the second half up 33-29.
The two teams went shot for shot again to start the second half. Snow was able to maintain the energy they had in the first half, with timely threes from Stephens. Toward the end of the half, CSI started to pull away with a 13-point run, putting them on top. The Badgers tried to claw their way back into the game, but time ran out. Snow ended up losing 83-78.
The scoring leader for Snow was Stephens with 22. The scoring leader for CSI was Moses with 34. The Badgers were hot from the field, shooting 45.5% and a strong 44% from behind the arc. However, this was not enough for the Badgers with the Golden Eagles shooting 53.7% from the field and a scorching 52% from behind the arc.
In the following game against USUE, the Badgers played tough but ended up falling short by a final score of 75-66.
In the first half, the Badger’s offense was running cold, only scoring 24 while the Eagles scored 36. In the half, the Eagle’s scoring leader was Gbenga Olubi with 11 while Snow's scoring leader was Zach Visentin with eight. The offense for the Badgers was cold, shooting 34.5% from the field and a paltry 8.3% from behind the arc. The Eagle's offense shot 40.5% from the field and 33.3% from behind the arc. Going into the half the Eagles were up 36-24.
At the start of the second half, both teams went shot for shot. The Badger's offense turned it on in the second half, scoring 42. The Eagles scored 39 in the second half to hold on to their lead. The final score ended up 75-66. The Badgers did better in the second half, with 40.6% from the field, increasing their overall to 37.7%. Snow also shot better from behind the arc with 33.3% in the second half. USUE finished the game with 42% from the field and 38.5% from behind the arc.
The scoring leaders for the Badgers were Christensen and Visentin, both scoring 13. The scoring leaders for USUE were Dyson Lighthall with 21 and Olubi with 18.
Coach May had some final thoughts on the games against CSI and USU-E stating, “There were lots of good things that happened. We played the No.1 team in the country to five points. Also, having the lead multiple times in the game. The team has made a lot of progress by taking care of the ball a lot more. Our guys are competing and improving.” Coach May then stated his thoughts on the upcoming weeks, “We’re tied for third place. In the upcoming two weeks, we play two ranked teams. If we are able to win either one of those games we lock up the third seed.”
Snow Colleges' last game against No.5 SLCC was a major upset winning 84-83.
In the first half, both teams made it rain from behind the arc. The Bruins started off the game with a three-pointer. SLCC shot a blistering 58.8% from three in the first half and 48.6% from the field. The Badgers Shot 48.8% from the field and 33.3% from behind the arc. In the first half, the Bruins were led by Jared Garcia with 12, with nine of the 12 points coming from three-point range. The Badger's scoring leader, Max Tripplet, was close behind Garcia with nine points. The Badgers went into halftime down 49-41.
After halftime, the strong three-point shooting continued for both teams. The Bruins started the second half on fire, going on a 10-point run in the first five minutes. This scoring streak extended the SLCC lead to 14 over the Badgers.
The Badgers slowly chipped away at the Bruins’ lead. After Tripplet slammed one down for two, the momentum visibly shifted to the Badgers. The entire Badger team seemed to capitalize on the energy created by Tripplet. Chase Potter hit a clutch shot from three and followed that up with a layup and a free throw, going on an individual six-point streak. Continuing the momentum, Colin Christensen drained a huge shot from behind the arc. The Badgers were able to score 13 consecutive points to close SLCC’s lead to one point, at 74-73 with just under eight minutes left to play.
The teams went back and forth exchanging baskets for the next several minutes. With under five minutes left to play, Jamir Stephens converted a clutch three for the Badgers. That basket put the Badgers up 82-79. Jared Garcia and Jaquan Scott then made huge baskets in the paint for the Bruins, allowing them to reclaim the lead 83-82 with two minutes left to play.
The Bruins fouled Zach Visentin on the next possession. Visenten made one of the two free throws knotting the game at 83. With 10 seconds left in the game, Snow’s Chase Potter wrestled down a defensive rebound and was fouled by Scott. This put Potter on the line for two shots with four seconds left on the clock. Potter made one of the two free throws, putting the Badgers up 84-83. The Badgers were able to lock down the Bruins on their final possession and win the game to complete the thrilling come-from-behind upset.
The Badger defense stepped up huge at the end of the game, only allowing the Bruins to score five points in the last five minutes. At the end of the game, the Badgers shot 49.2% from the field and 40.7% from behind the arc. The Bruins shot 45.6% from the field and 48.4% from the 3-point line. The Badgers were led to victory by Potter and Triplett with 18 apiece. The Bruins' Jared Garcia led all scorers with 25.
Coach May shared his final thoughts on the game “We started off slow, not hitting shots. The Bruins were hitting everything, but we stuck to our game plan and wore them down.” About Chase Potter’s game-winning free throw, Coach May stated, “Chase is a clutch player and I was confident he was going to make one.”