Eagles open new year with 1 win, 1 loss

After the short holiday break for the athletes, the men’s basketball team faced off against Western State Colorado University, and Colorado State University-Pueblo. The men split against their RMAC opponents, beating Western, 83-78, and falling to the ThunderWolves, 71-63. The Eagles are now 5-6, 3-4 in conference play.

Against Western, the Eagles shot over 50 percent from the field and nearly 40 percent from the 3-point line. The Eagles finished the game with 11 threes. The Mountaineers shot over 50 percent from long range but could only manage 45 percent from the field.

Western State’s Ben Beauchamp, sophomore of Louisville, Colorado, led all scorers with 26 points, 18 of them coming from behind the arc. Warren Gordon, junior of Indianapolis, paced the way for CSC, scoring 21. Two other Eagles finished the game with double digit points, Billy Johnson, junior of Cedar Hill, Texas, and Andre Miller, junior of San Mateo, California, scoring 14 and 12, respectively.

The Eagles totaled 17 team assists, six of them coming from the hands of Sharif Black, sophomore of Detroit. Jay Feltson, senior of Saginaw, Michigan, led the way in rebounds, hauling in 11.

Against the ThunderWolves, neither team shot exceptionally well. Pueblo managed to make 3 of 11 from outside. The Eagles could not manage to continue the hot shooting from the previous night, and  only managed to hit 1 of 11, courtesy of Miller.

Leading all scorers and accounting for over a fourth of his team’s points, Nelson Kahler, junior of Noosa Heads, Australia, scored 25, his career high. Kahler also helped on the defensive end, recording seven blocks. Three other ThunderWolves tallied double digits in the scoring column.

Gordon was the Eagles’ high scorer with 14. Jordan Green, junior of New Rochelle, New York, was the only other Eagle to score in double digits with 10.

The Eagles will play again tonight, traveling to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology at 7:30 p.m., and tomorrow against Black Hills State University, at 6 p.m, in Spearfish, South Dakota.