CHADRON – Five players scored in double figures and the Chadron State College men's basketball team ended its recent nine-game slide with a convincing 77-61 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory over Colorado State University-Pueblo Friday at the Chicoine Center.
 
Chadron State will host the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
 
On Friday, the Eagles received a balanced offensive effort. Evan Brooks drilled three 3-pointers to pace CSC with 18 points but he got plenty of help. Christopher Smith added 13 points, Roderick Butler scored 12, Davante McCallam had 11 and Josiah Lee finished with 10 to help lift the Eagles to 4-12 overall and 3-9 in the RMAC.
 
All of the Eagles' double-digit scorers had at least four rebounds and CSC out-rebounded Pueblo, now 11-7 overall and 7-5 in the conference, 38-31.
 
Also for Chadron State, Jay Feltson, who scored nine points and had a team-high seven rebounds, provided the Eagles with a spark off the bench.
 
Chadron State led for a majority of the game and owned a double-digit for much of the second half after clinging to a 31-27 advantage at halftime. Pueblo made things interesting early on in the second half, though, and tied the game at 31-31 with 18:30 to play. However, Chadron State responded with a 14-3 scoring run, punctuated by a pair of treys from Smith and Brooks and a dunk from Lee.
 
Pueblo cut the lead to 45-39 after back-to-back buckets but the Eagles answered again with a pair of 3-pointers to push the lead back to double digits. The ThunderWolves wouldn't get closer than seven points the rest of the way.
 
For the game, Chadron State shot exactly 50 percent – 25 of 50 from the field and six of 12 from beyond the arc. Pueblo hit 40 percent of its shots (21-52) but struggled from the foul line, connecting on just 14 of 27 attempts. The Eagles, meanwhile, converted 21 of 30 from the charity stripe.