CHADRON, Neb. -- November 15, 2016 -- The "Houston Reed Era" officially begins Tuesday across the state from Chadron State College as the men's basketball team has its regular season opener against Bellevue College in Bellevue, Nebraska, just outside of Omaha.

The Eagles have played two exhibition contests so far, and the team has begun to take form. Their two warm-ups were against major NCAA Division I programs, so the Eagles can be assured they will face no tougher opponents the remainder of the basketball season. A few things can be gleaned from the exhibitions.

Coach Reed will install a man-to-man defense with his 2016-17 team. The Eagles held Wyoming to 75 points in their meetup, and since then, the Cowboys have gone on to record 88 against RMAC opponent Western State and 73 against their first Division I opponent, the University of Montana. So far, Wyoming's leading scorer is Jason McManamen, who CSC held to 15 points in Torrington, where McManamen hails from.

Bronte Corbray is the leading scorer for the Eagles in their two exhibitions. the junior transfer from Shoreline Community College has 18 points in the games against Wyoming and Nebraska. He has shot 7-of-20 for 35 percent and 3-of-10 from beyond the arc against the two difficult opponents. He also leads the team in rebounds with eight.

Next in scoring is Warren Gordon, who averaged 12.4 points per game last season to lead the Eagles. He has a total of 13 points and leads the team in assists with six.

True freshman forward Michael Johnson has been limited to 26 total minutes mostly because of fouls due to his role against the DI big men. Nevertheless he is 3-of-5 shooting and has hit 2-of-3 from the foul line for eight points.

On the defensive side, Darius Polley has three shot blocks and four steals to lead the team in both. Polley's 10 points are third on the team.

Bellevue enters the game already having played seven games, with a record of 3-4. They are coming off eight straight NAIA tournament appearances. They average 79.4 points per contest and have allowed 76. They shoot an impressive 45.3% as a team and 32.1% from three point range.

The Bruins are led by guards BJ Shelton and Jalen Hall who both average double-digit scoring. Shelton averages 14.6 points per game and Hall has 13.1.

Tip-off is at 6 p.m. MT which is 7 p.m. locally in Bellevue.