PRICE, Utah-After overcoming a six-point deficit with under 2:35 remaining in regulation against Utah State Eastern, the Snow College men’s basketball team went on to outscore the Eagles, 15-9, in overtime to complete the come-from-behind victory, 76-70. With the important road win, the Badgers take sole possession of second place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings with a record of 4-3.
Freshman Nate Duckworth drained a three-pointer from the far right side with 2:33 remaining in regulation to cut the Eagles’ lead to 60-57. Both teams struggled to get a shot off over the two next minutes with both teams committing shot clock violations.
Duckworth then fouled Turahn Thompson to stop the clock with 24.4 second remaining. Thompson made one of his two attempts, giving the Eagles a 61-57 lead. With the Badgers pushing the ball up the court, Thompson tripped up Darrian Nebeker, sending him to the free-throw line for a one-and-one opportunity with 18.7 seconds remaining. Nebeker made both attempts to pull to within two points at 61-59.
Following a timeout, the Badgers came out in a full-court press and forced a turnover on the inbounds pass with 18.3 seconds left in the game. After receiving the inbounds pass, Trey Farrer found Brayden Johnson on a backdoor cut to the basket. Johnson’s dunk tied the score at 61-61 with 13.0 seconds remaining. The Badgers’ defense held and forced USUE to take a last-second, three-point attempt from well beyond the three-point line that failed to hit the backboard as time expired.
In overtime, Snow College connected on 11-of-12 free-throw attempts to seal the victory, led by Duckworth who was four-for-four from the charity stripe in the overtime period. Nebeker led all scorers in the bonus period with five points.
A total of six different players scored in double figures for the Badgers, led by Farrer who dropped 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field.
“Our guys were pretty unselfish tonight,” Nielson said. “It shows in the stats when six guys score in double digits. These guys are stepping up and getting better each night.”
Tredyn Christensen, Nebeker, and Duckworth all had 12 points for the Badgers.
Farrer also led the team with nine rebounds, including three offensive and six defensive boards. Brantzen Blackner had seven rebounds, while Nebekder and Brayden Johnson had six each.
Snow will return to Ephraim to take on Colorado Northwestern on Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Horne Activity Center. As part of the “Pack the HAC” promotion for the remaining three home games, the first 500 fans who arrive at the game wearing blue will receive a free hot dog. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
