Men win with extra motivation

Metropolitan State University of Denver took an early 6-0 lead and never looked back Friday against the Eagles. CSC never took the lead. The Eagles fell to Metro State, 72-60, at the Chicoine Events Center, dropping their RMAC record to 3-11.

Three players for the Roadrunners combined for 54 points to help Metro improve to a 12-2 RMAC record. Senior Nicholas Kay, of Tamworth, Australia, led all scorers with 25. Senior of Brisbane, Australia, Mitch McCarron, followed with 21. Will Sinclair, senior of Lilydale, Australia, added 11 points to go along with six rebounds.

The Eagles struggled defensively, giving up 34 points in the paint, along with 14 second-chance points.

Senior of Spanish Fort, Alabama, Kendrick Holliman, led the Eagles with 13 points. Roderick Butler, junior of Detroit, and Christopher Smith, senior of Pasadena, California, each put 10 on the board for the Eagles. Senior of Ontario, California, Evan Brooks, couldn’t seem to find his rhythm offensively, finishing with eight points.

“Friday night, I thought we did a pretty good job competing,” Brooks said. “We just struggled to execute as well as we wanted to, and that was our biggest downfall.”

The Eagles bounced back the next day with a nail-biting victory against the Rangers of Regis University, Denver, 73-72.

At the half, Chadron State earned the largest lead of the game—10. The Rangers came back in a hurry in the second, outscoring the Eagles 40-31 after the intermission. With the game down to the wire, CSC took a three-point lead, thanks to a pair of free throws from Brooks. At the buzzer, Regis’ Spenser Reeb, sophomore of Broomfield, Colorado, hit a game-tying three, but his foot was just over the line, giving the Eagles a one-point victory.

“Our biggest difference on Saturday was just more attention to detail,” Brooks said. “As unfortunate as it is, we had a little extra incentive to play our hearts out for Fatima Larios. We really wanted to get a win for her and the softball team.”

Brooks found his scoring groove, ending with 18 points. Josiah Lee, senior of Colorado Springs, Colorado, finished with 11. Junior Davante McCallam, of Miami, found his way into the scoring column with 10, six of which were from the line. As a team, the Eagles shot nearly 85 percent from the line, compared to Regis’ 72 percent.

“This win was big because it puts us in a position to make a run the last seven games,” Lee said.  “We just tried to take our mistakes out and continue to play hard. This win felt great because it was more than just basketball, we played with someone in mind.”

The Eagles travel to Gunnison, Colorado, to take on the Western State Mountaineers Friday. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.