CHADRON – Black Hills State University earned a hard-fought 62-61 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over Chadron State College Saturday evening at the Chicoine Center.
 
The nip and tuck game with the two regional rivals featured four ties and 12 lead changes. The Eagles, who fell to 3-10 overall and 2-7 in the RMAC, cut the Yellow Jackets' lead to 62-61 following two successful free throws from Kendrick Holliman with 0.4 seconds remaining. After a negligent inbounds pass from Black Hills, CSC threw up a half-court shot but the attempt fell short.
 
The final three minutes were nearly as dramatic. The Eagles led by as many seven points midway through the second half but with less than three minutes remaining, Black Hills State's Myles Henry, who scored 10 points, pushed the lead to 48-45 with a strong offensive rebound and put back. On the next play, Brady Bisgaard stole the ball and threw it up to Riley Ryan, who also scored 10 points, to push the Jackets' lead to 50-45.
 
The Eagles clawed back, though, and Kendrick Holliman, who scored a game-high 17 points, drove the lane to bring the game back to 57-54 with 1:12 remaining. However, the Jackets answered with a layup from Brody Brisk.
 
Chadron State's Christopher Smith, who finished with 15 points, sank a pair of free throws and a critical 3-pointer with 12 seconds to play but Black Hills point guard Wyatt Krogman made one of two free throws and the Jackets held on for the wild win.
 
Black Hills had four athletes with double-digit points led by Brisk with 14. As a team, Black Hills made 44 percent of its shots from the field, while only hitting one shot from beyond the arc. The team shot 79 percent from the line, sinking 15 of 19 attempts.
 
Chadron State's Smith and Holliman accounted for over half the team's points with a combined 32. CSC shot 43.4 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.5 percent from the line.
 
Also for the Eagles, Davante McCallam scored eight points, Josiah Lee chipped in four points and had a team-high six rebounds, and Matt Reader dished out a team-high three assists and grabbed four boards.
 
Chadron State will play at New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico Friday and Saturday.