The Chadron State College men’s basketball team had a narrow escape Saturday night, but created enough turnovers and turned them into enough points to edge South Dakota Mines 70-67 in an important Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest in Rapid City.
The Eagles are now 12-8 for the season and 9-5 in the conference, good for fifth in the RMAC standings. Mines falls to 6-14 and 5-9.
The Hardrockers shot 53.7% (29-54) and the Eagles 44.4% 44.4% (28-63) from the field. Each team made five 3-pointers.
While Mines out-rebounded the visitors 33-21, Chadron State was credited with 10 steals, which were a big chunk of the 15 turnovers that the Hardrockers committed. The stat-keepers calculated that the turnovers led to 18 points for the Eagles, who turned the ball over just twice and neither of them was converted into points.
The Eagles’ led 68-67 with four seconds left when the last of the steals/turnovers occurred. Forward Josh Robinson came away with the ball, was fouled and made both free throws to wrap up the scoring.
Slow starts in both halves nearly doomed the Eagles, but to their credit, they found a way to pull out the victory.
South Dakota Mines owned a 23-11 lead with 8 ½ minutes left in the opening half, but the Eagles had closed the gap to 30-26 by halftime. MJ Foust came off the bench to score the Eagles’ final three field goals of the half.
The Hardrockers were ahead by 10 points three times in the second half, and were on top 53-46 with 10 minutes remaining before the Eagles, who had never previously led, went on an 11-0 run. Mines retook the lead at 63-61 with 3:08 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Isaiah Wyatt and baskets by Bryce Latimer and Robinson, along with Robinson’s late steal and two free shots, clinched the verdict.
Latimer, the Eagles’ sparkplug off the bench, led the visitors with 18 points. Both Foust and Robinson scored 14 and Wyatt added 12.
Brevin Walter, a 6-4 sophomore, paced Mines with 21 points, Senior Kolten Mortensen, who made three 3-pointers, was close behind with 19.
The Eagles will be at home Tuesday night to host Colorado Christian.
Chadron State—Bryce Latimer 18, MJ Foust 14, Josh Robinson 14, Isaiah Wyatt 12, Jarrett Taylor 6, Marcus Jefferson 5, Martin Poznanovic 1. Totals: 28-63 (5-20) 9-13 70 points, 21 rebounds, 2 turnovers.
South Dakota Mines—Brevin Walter 21, Kolten Mortensen 19, Alejandro Rama 8, Kolten Frugoli 8, Jaxon Lloyd 6, Keagan Smith 5. Totals: 39-54 (5-17) 4-4 67 points, 33 rebounds, 15 turnovers.
Chadron State 26 44 —-70
South Dakota Mines 30 37 —-67
3-pointers: CSC—Wyatt 2, Taylor 2 Jefferson 1. SDM—Mortensen 3. Brevin 1, Smith 1.