TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (January 9, 2018) - If you're a member of the fourth-ranked Salt Lake Community College Bruins, you understand that challenges are just something that comes with being a Bruin.

For instance, the Bruins realize every single Scenic West Athletic Conference program understands their tradition of success, meaning they are "up" for every encounter. Salt Lake also understands that victories over league opponents can sometimes be a great predictor of success on the national circuit.

Those two examples of challenges illustrate what happened last week for the Bruins, in a triple-overtime win over USU Eastern, and what will happen this week as Salt Lake faces nationally-ranked College of Southern Idaho and in-state rival Snow College. SLCC opened SWAC play at 1-0, thanks to a 124-111 thriller in Price, opening the door to take control of the conference race with important games this weekend.

Bruins coach Todd Phillips underlined the importance of this weekend's games in comments early in the week.

"It's a big week coming up," he said. "We are excited for a top-ten matchup with College of Southern Idaho (ranked 9th in latest NJCAA poll); it's going to be a battle of wills."

The Bruins will have their SWAC home opener Thursday, hosting CSI in a game that is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Bruin Arena. The Golden Eagles are 17-2 on the season and 1-0 in Scenic West play, after beating Snow College 83-79 in Saturday's league opener. CSI player Charles Jones, Jr., leads the league in scoring-per-game at 19.7 points.

Phillips said SLCC will have a significant challenge ahead.

"This game will come down to our inside scoring and CSI's three-point shooting," he said. "We are excited to see who will step up for us this week. One of our strengths has been we have a bunch of different guys who have stepped up for us this season."

Saturday's matchup will bring another road game for SLCC, against another strong in-state rival. The Snow College Badgers enter the game at 10-7 on the season, and 0-1 in league play after the loss to Southern Idaho.

In spite of their up-and-down nature in non-conference play, Phillips noted Snow will still present a significant challenge for the Bruins.

"Snow College will be a tough task down in Ephraim (as they always are)," he said. "(Snow) really shoots it and puts pressure on you from the outside. It's always a great game down at Snow."

Salt Lake's game against Snow is scheduled to tip at 5:00 p.m. in Ephraim. The Bruins will play their next home game on Jan. 18, when they host Colorado Northwestern in Taylorsville.