Con Marshall
CHADRON, Neb. – The Chadron State College men’s basketball team rebounded from a Tuesday setback with authority on Thursday night, defeating Black Hills State 90-77 in a crucial Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference game in the Chicoine Center in Chadron, led by senior Trey Ballard’s career-high 22 points.
Trailing by two at halftime, the Eagles took off in the second half. They made 16 of 26 field goal shots, seven of them 3-pointers, to shoot 61.5 percent in the second half and outscore the Yellow Jackets 51-36 in the final 20 minutes.
The Eagles are now 10-10 overall and 6-6 in the RMAC and defeated Black Hills State for the third consecutive time in the Chicoine Center. Black Hills State is now 10-9 overall and 6-5 in the RMAC.
For the game, Chadron State shot 51.8 percent from the field and were an even 50 percent from deep, hitting 12 of 24. The Eagles made 20 of 26 free throw attempts to shoot 76.9 percent there.
To reach his career high, Ballard made 8 of his 10 shots from the field and sunk one three-pointer and all five of his free throws, but the senior guard was just one of five Eagles in double figures.
The team’s two leading scorers for the season, Jalen Thomas and Zy Wright, each had 14 points, while Jaylen Davis came off the bench to add 12, his season-high. In addition, veterans Julio Phipps and Dalton Peterson each sank 3 of 4 shots from behind the arc and finished with 11 and nine points, respectively. Thomas also had seven rebounds and seven assists to lead the Eagles in those categories.
Both Wright and Peterson nailed three-pointers to put the Eagles ahead 6-4 early, but Black Hills State led the remainder of the opening half. The Yellow Jackets built a pair of eight-point leads before the Eagles scored 10 points in the final 2:40 of the half to trail by just 41-39 at intermission.
The Eagles scored the first five points of the second half on a jumper by Wright and a three by Darrius Miles, and they led the rest of the way. After a jumper and two free throws by Ballard gave the home team a 75-63 lead with 7:32 remaining, the difference was in double-digits the rest of the game.
BJ Woodruff, a 6-foot-1 freshman, was Black Hills’ leading scorer with 15 points. Both Jaeton Hackley and Caelin Hearne added 13 and Joel Speckman had 10. The visitors were 44.6 percent from the field, including 10 of 32 on three-point attempts.
The Eagles will have the rest of this week off, but will be back home again next week to meet Colorado Christian on Thursday, Feb. 6 and Colorado State-Pueblo on Saturday, Feb. 8.