Friday, March 6, 2026
The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
BasketballSports

Rocky Mountain State teams defend their territory against Eagles

Molly Wedan

After traveling over eight hours with the impending doom of a blizzard, the Chadron State Men’s Basketball team arrived in Gunnison, Colo., ready to suit up against the Western State Colorado University Mountaineers. Unfortunately, the hosting team was able to oust the Eagles with an 81-66 victory Friday night.

Western, now 8-12 for the season, came out ready to play and pulled ahead eight before Chadron made their mark on the score board with a good free throw by sophomore forward of Spanish Fort, Ala., Kendrick Holliman. The Eagles then began to pick up speed and tied the game with a good three-pointer by David Downey, junior guard of Scottsbluff, with 3:10 left to play in the first half. Both teams battled the rest of the half, but Western came out on top 42-37 by halftime.

The second half featured no ties, and the closest the Eagles came to Western was within four points after a three pointer by Grant Stone, junior guard of Canton, Mich. Leading scorer for Chadron was Zac Bargen, junior forward of Chadron, with 20 points and he also had seven rebounds. Holliman was the only other scorer in double digits with 12.

Dallas Shaw (10), sophomore of Buffalo, Wyo., dribbles a ball down the court in a game against CSU-Pueblo Jan 31. -Photo by Ashley Swanson
Dallas Shaw (10), sophomore of Buffalo, Wyo., dribbles a ball down the court in a game against CSU-Pueblo Jan 31. -Photo by Ashley Swanson

Looking to get a win before loading up to come home, the Eagles went to face the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks on Saturday. Mesa’s dynamite defense stopped the Eagles from progressing in the second half, and was able to take the 68-37 win.

Mesa, who is now 16-5, was first to get on the score board with a jumper by Jeff Hart, who ended up being leading scorer for the night with 21 points. However, Chadron was quick to answer with a three pointer from Bargen. Bargen led the Eagles once again, this time with only 12 points. Mesa had two other people score in double figures, but Bargen was Chadron’s lone double digit scorer.

When the first half ended, Chadron was only behind by four. When the Mavericks came out after halftime, they had already outscored Chadron 25 to eight with seven and a half minutes to play. Mavericks shot 70 percent in the second half, compared to Chadron’s 18 percent making the difference they needed to get the win.

Chadron State’s women’s team also lost both games for the weekend, but had some bright spots among the darkness. Dallas Shaw, sophomore of Buffalo, Wyo., scored a career high 23 points, 21 of those being from behind the three-point line. Kattie Ranta, junior of Rapid City, S.D., also scored her sixth double-double of the season and also had two steals and two assists.

“After the game we talk about how we need to take the tools we’ve learned during the season and apply them now,” Shaw said. The Eagles will host the final games of the season, starting against Colorado Christian University on Friday and Colorado School of Mines on Saturday. The women’s games start at 6 p.m. and men’s at 8 p.m. in Armstrong. “Earlier in the season we lost to both teams, but both are beatable. I think if we limit turnovers and play good defense we have a good chance of winning,” Shaw said.