Eagles fall to #19 Mines, go 2-1 over the weekend

By Eben Rosentrater – Sports Editor

The CSC men’s basketball team put up another high-scoring weekend of play after defeating the MSU Denver Roadrunners and the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers, of Rapid City, on Friday and Tuesday.

However, the Eagles were unable to pull off an upset after losing the NCAA DII 19th ranked Colorado Mines Orediggers, of Golden, by four points.

Friday’s game on the road against MSU Denver was an Eagle offensive clinic.

The game remained close until the score was 12-12. After that, the Eagles took the lead and never gave it away.

After the first half, Chadron State led the Roadrunners 50-39. The first half was one of the Eagles’ best halves of play all season, shooting .724 from the field compared to the Roadrunners’ .555.

The second half, while not as high-scoring, still saw the Eagles score another 36 points, a majority of which came off of the hands of Bryce Latimer, junior of Stone Mountain, Georgia, who scored 23 points through the entire game.

The Eagles handled the Roadrunners, winning 86-76.

The following game against the Orediggers was not as successful for the Eagles.

The game was tight all the way through. In total, there were nine lead changes and five ties. After one half of play, the Orediggers led the Eagles 35-29.

Chadron State battled back and kept the game close, however, free throw shooting would make the difference in the game. 

The Eagles shot .684 from the free-throw line, which allowed the Orediggers, who never missed a free throw all night, to narrowly win the game by four.

CSC forward Josh Robinson, junior of Paris, Texas, kept the Eagles in the game scoring 31 total points, but it was not enough to push them past Colorado Mines.

This loss ended the Eagles’ nine-game winning streak, but considering the Orediggers were ranked 19th in the NCAA, the Eagles still performed rather well.

Tuesday’s game against the Hardrockers gave the Eagles a chance to bounce back.

Considering the Eagles only bested South Dakota Mines by a single basket the last time they played, they had something to prove.

The Hardrockers quickly jumped out to decent lead, but great shooting from the Eagles kept it from getting to out of hand. By the end of the first half, the Rockers led the Eagles 44-39.

However, the Eagles, led by Latimer, easily took back lead and never gave it up. The Eagles dropped 46 points in the second half, shooting .500 from the field.

Latimer, coming off a 30-point game the weekend prior, scored a single-game career best of 43 points, shooting .684 from the field and canning 13 shots from the free-throw line.

Despite falling to the Orediggers, hopes are high for the Eagles to finish the season strong against the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets, of Spearfish, South Dakota.

The Eagles will play their final regular season game against the Yellow Jackets, at 7:30 p.m. today, in the Chicoine Center.