Eagles turnover a win
Chadron State’s men’s basketball team starts the new year off with a loss to Westminster College, despite attempts to comeback Saturday in Chicoine, 73-67.
“The reason why we had to comeback was because we had such a poor start in the first half,” Shane Paben, head men’s basketball coach, said. “We missed some key shots in the second half but if we only had five turnovers in the first half like we did the second half, we definitely would’ve won the game.”
By the end of the first half the Griffins outscored the Eagles, 43-22, but CSC returned to the court and closed the gap to six points four times against Westminster.
With 4:11 left of the game, CJ Jennings, senior of Colorado Springs, made a fastbreak layup to bring the score to 63-57.
Marcus Jefferson, junior of Lewisville, Texas, also brought the ball to the basket in another fast break, bringing the score gap back down to six with two and a half minutes left after Griffin Donaval Avila, freshman of Petal, Mississippi, made a jumper.
“We have talent to be a conference championship team,” Paben said. “We just have to figure out how to win games or, at least, force people to beat us instead of shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The Griffins quickly answered back after Jefferson’s basket with a three pointer from Matt Kitzman, senior of Draper, Utah, in an attempt to extend their lead.
Following a steal from Teddy Parham, Jr., junior of Los Angeles, Jefferson was fouled at the arc with 36 seconds left and proceeded to make all three of his free throws.
After a series of free-throws made by Westminster, Parham closed out the night with a layup followed by a free throw to once more place the teams six points apart and set the ending score of the game.
“Coming out at the half, we wanted to increase the intensity and cut our turnovers,” Jefferson said. “Even though the end result wasn’t what we wanted, we made a positive strive in the right direction in the second half.”
Jefferson led the Eagles with 16 points, being five of 14 for field goals and three of five for three-pointers. He also set his season high with four steals during his 37 minutes of play.
KJ Harris, junior of McKinney, Texas, put 14 points up on the board, being 50% from the field goal range and three-point range, and leading the night with six assists.
The Eagles continue to Colorado for weekend games against Fort Lewis College at 7:30 p.m., Friday, and Western Colorado University at 7 p.m., Saturday.
“Our focus as a team is to put a whole game together and learn from our previous mistakes,” Jefferson said. “Also, play hard and give ourselves an opportunity to be victorious.”