Paxton Ritchey-CSC Sports Information
SALT LAKE CITY – Chadron State had a cold shooting night out west as the Eagle men’s basketball team lost 69-54 to Westminster University in CSC’s final regular season road game of the season on Saturday afternoon in Utah.
Jalen Thomas scored 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting to lead the Eagles, but no other CSC player tallied more than John Jenkins’s eight points. Julio Phipps had a game-high seven rebounds to pace CSC in that category.
At 13-13 overall and 9-9 in the RMAC standings, Chadron State is still in playoff position but has yet to clinch a spot entering the season’s final two games. The Eagles hold eighth place at 9-9 and are two games ahead of three programs (Westminster, Adams State and Colorado Christian) tied for ninth at 7-11.
The Eagles trail seventh-place UCCS (10-8) by one game, but CSC would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Mountain Lions if the teams finished with even records. Three programs (Colorado Mesa, Fort Lewis and Black Hills State) are knotted at 11-7 and hold spots 4-6 as things stand, two games ahead of the Eagles.
The loss also means that Chadron State concludes the regular season with a 4-9 road record. The Eagles are 8-3 at home this season, with the final two regular-season games next week coming inside the Chicoine Center. Westminster, which improved to 13-13 overall and 7-11 in the RMAC with the win, has similar splits as they are now 8-5 at home and 4-7 on the road, including an earlier loss to the Eagles in Chadron.
The Eagles, who are now 0-8 in program history in the Behnken Field House at Westminster, had their second-lowest point total, third-lowest field goal percentage and second-lowest three-point percentage of the season. This season, Chadron State’s four lowest point totals, six lowest field goal totals and eight lowest three-point totals have all come in road games.
Chadron State finished 35.5 percent from the floor, 17.6 percent from three and 63.6 percent from the line. The host Griffins shot 46.3 percent from the floor, 23.1 percent from deep and 88.9 percent from the line. Westminster had four players in double figures, led by Chase Potter’s 17 points, and also outrebounded the Eagles 39-33.
The lead changed hands six times with five ties in the first half. Thomas scored 10 of his 16 points before halftime, including six of CSC’s first eight points on the night. John Jenkins also went to work in the first half, with a personal 5-0 run turning a 13-11 Griffins lead into a 16-13 Eagles advantage with 10:56 to go in the first half.
Unfortunately, that would be Chadron State’s largest lead of the night. A 5-0 Westminster run gave the Griffins the lead back, and although Thomas hit back-to-back buckets to put CSC up 20-18, Westminster’s Simon Akena answered with a layup plus the and-one free throw to give the Griffins a 21-20 lead and the Eagles would trail the rest of the game.
Chadron State takes the court next against Fort Lewis on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Chicoine Center before the Eagles face Adams State on Saturday at 3 p.m. to close out the regular season.