No doubt about it, the Chadron State College men’s basketball team needs to win some more games if it’s going to reach the goal of qualifying for the RMAC Shootout at the end of the season.
Since it’s perceived that it’s easier to win at home than on the road, this will hopefully be an opportunity for the Eagles to improve their chances of ranking among the eight teams to reach the post-season when they host Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday and Regis on Saturday in the Chicoine Center.
They’ll have their work cut out for them. That’s particularly true when Colorado Springs invades. That team smacked the Eagles 91-63 when they met on Jan. 3 in the Mountain Lions Gym.
It was the Eagles’ third game in four days and they were fagged, but CSC Coach Shane Paben said during his post-game radio interview that the Mountain Lions are big, deep and experienced and will be tough to beat no matter where the game is played.
He also knows his players want to prove they’re much better than they showed in the first matchup.
The Lions are 13-5 overall and 7-4 in the conference. CSC is next on the list at 6-5. Each of the Lions’ losses have been to one of the four teams that are above them in the RMAC standings. The setbacks, in order, have been to Black Hills State, 87-79; Colorado Mesa, 86-70; Fort Lewis, 77-69; and Colorado Mines, 85-66.
Mesa has two conference losses and the others one apiece after Mesa spilled Black Hills State 80-69 in Spearfish on Friday the 13th, even though Yellow Jackets’ standout Joel Scott tallied 31 points.
Colorado Springs has three players averaging in double figures. Senior guard Jon’ll Fugett is scoring at a 13.8-game clip, Beni Fungula is at 11.6 and 6-foot-8 Mac Stodart 11.3. Another bruiser is 6-9 William Becker, who was six-of-seven from the field while scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the Jan. 3 games.
The night before losing to the Mountain Lions, the Eagles were in Denver and outscored Regis 43-29 in the second half to win 74-64. It was CSC’s seventh win in eight games. The Rangers began this week with a 7-9 season record and a 4-6 conference log. Their first three RMAC wins were by a total of five points, but they thumped another Denver quintet, Metro State, 85-70 last Saturday night.
The Rangers’ scoring leader, super senior David Simental, who also has played for CSU-Pueblo and Nebraska-Kearney during his career, is scoring at a 15.2-point clip and is one of the league’s best pure shooters.
Of course, the Chadron State women also will be at home this weekend. These Eagles are 3-14 and 3-8 in the RMAC, putting them at them low in the conference standings along with Colorado Christian and South Dakota Mines.
But the Lady Eagles play hard and it’s always interesting to see how many different angles forward Shay Powers can devise to make her shots around the basket while perplexed defenders assigned to stop her are left behind. Her 56.5 shooting percentage is impressive. She made 20 of her 24 field goal attempts last weekend, and earned one of the RMAC Player-of-the-Week for the second time this season. Besides scoring 46 points in the two games, Powers also claimed 20 rebounds.
The Regis women won 73-64 when it played CSC in Denver, even though Powers made 10 of 13 shots from the field while scoring 22 points and senior guard Samiyah Worrall poured in 21. The CSC women also gave it their best in Colorado Springs, outscoring the Lady Lions 40-35 in the second half to close the final gap to six points—72-66.
At 11-5 for the season and 8-2 in the conference, the Regis women are second in the RMAC standings, just a half game behind the Mines Orediggers. UCCS begins the week at 6-11 overall record and is 5-6 in league play.
The Friday night double-header in the Chicoine Center will begin at 5:30; the Saturday night twin-bill at 4 o’clock.