CSC Basketball Teams In Southern Colorado

The Chadron State College basketball teams are on the road this weekend to the far reaches of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  They’ll play at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., some 628 miles from Chadron, on Friday night and visit Adams State at Alamosa, Colo., which is 100 miles closer, on Saturday night.
             
The double-headers are due to start at 5 and 5:30 p.m., respectively, and will be carried on Q-98FM radio, as usual.
             
The trip will be a challenge for the Eagles.  Both Chadron State teams are just 1-4 on the road so far this season.  Overall, the men are 9-6 and the women are 5-8.  Their RMAC records are 6-3 for the men and 3-6 for the women.
             
The Fort Lewis men are 13-2 for the season and 8-1 in the conference after losing for the first time on RMAC action 79-70 at Colorado-Colorado Springs last Friday night.  The Adams State men are 4-11 overall and 2-7 in the conference, with wins over New Mexico Highlands 78-71 and South Dakota Mines 83-77.
             
The Fort Lewis women are 8-7 overall and 5-4 in RMAC play. The Adams State Lady Grizzlies are 11-6 and 6-3 after losing their last three contests to South Dakota Mines, Regis and Colorado Springs, all by no more than six points.
             
Several Chadron State men are near the top of the conference charts at a bit more than the halfway point of the season.
             
Guard Bryce Latimer is second in scoring with his 20.1 per game average and third in assists with 68. He’s also fourth in assist-turnover ratio with only 39 turnovers.  Another CSC guard, Jalen Patterson, is second on the RMAC ratio chart with 42 assists and 21 turnovers.
             
CSC’s Josh Robinson is second in rebounding at 8.2 a game and third in field goal shooting at 58.8.  In addition, guard Dalton Peterson has the third best 3-point shooting percentage after making 40 of his 99 shots from behind the arc.  His 2.7 treys per game is second best in the conference, even though he struggled during the two home games last weekend, when he sank just four of 17 long distance shots.  
             
The Fort Lewis men have exceptional balanced scoring. Obi Agbim, a 6-3 junior, leads with a 14.1-point average while 6-6 senior Malik Whitaker is averaging 12 points.  Both are from Houston. Brayden Carter, a 6-9 junior who played at Regis last year, is third in scoring at 11 points and leads the rebounders at six per game.
             
The Skyhawks haven’t lit things up from downtown, too much. The opponents have made 144 3-pointers and Fort Lewis 112.
             
The Adams State men are led in scoring by 5-9 Destan Williams, who is averaging 16 points. Next is 6-4 senior Austin Fedal with a 14.3 average.  Both draw lots of fouls and shoot well from the free throw line. Williams is 68-77 at the line and Fedal is 63-80.
             
The Grizzlies’ Isaiah Sampson, who is averaging nine points a game this season, poured in 26 in Chadron last season, but CSC still won 92-80 when six Eagles scored in double figures. 
             
The Fort Lewis women are paced by 5-7 sophomore guard Billy Lanae, who is scoring at a 15.4 per game clip and has come up with 51 steals, but also has turned the ball over 45 times and handed out just 21 assists.
            
Last year in the Chicoine Center, Lanae was just 8-of-24 from the field and 2 of 18 from 3-point range, but still scored 29 points because she was 11-of-16 at the free throw line.  CSC still won 66-61 behind Shae Powers’ 11-of-12 field goal marksmanship and 27 points.
             
The Lady Skyhawks shoot and make lots of free throws.  They are 250-329 at the line while the opponents are just 188-277.
             
The Adams State women had a great season a year ago, finishing with a 21-9 record and earning Mario Caetano the RMAC Coach of the Year honor.  The Grizzlies feature the conference’s leading scorer, 5-8 sophomore Harmainie Dominguez, who is averaging 18.8 points and leads the conference’s 3-point shooters by a country mile.  She’s made 60 of 139 shots from far away for 43.2%, and has sunk 39 of 42 free throws.
             
Adams State’s only other double-figure scorer is 5-8 Riahana Davis, who is averaging 11.8 points. Three more Grizzlies are averaging at least nine points a game, however.
             
The Eagles also will be the visitors the final weekend of January, when they play at Colorado Springs and Regis.  Their next home game is on Tuesday, Feb. 3 versus South Dakota Mines.