CHADRON, Neb. – January 28, 2017 – It took a full 40 minutes of basketball, but the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys outlasted the Chadron State College men 85-80 in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference clash Saturday night.
 
The Cowboys improved to 8-12 (6-9 RMAC and keep their postseason hopes alive, while the Eagles fall to 2-17 (2-13 RMAC) on the season.
 
"We did a better job tonight of taking care of the things we can control, such as effort, energy, and attitude," said CSC head men's basketball coach Houston Reed. "There was adversity tonight and guys stepped up and made plays, but this one got away in the end."
 
CSC led through the first 12 minutes of the game, and NMHU's first lead finally came at 7:50 in the first half.
 
At that point the game took a turn for the messy, with technical fouls assessed to players on both teams, and in the ensuing several minutes the Cowboys built their biggest lead of the game at 32-25 with 4:43 left in the first half, and went into halftime up 36-31.
 
The Eagles came out strong in the second half with a 16-6 run fueled in part by two huge three-pointers from Cody Martinz – his first of the season – and built back a 47-43 lead at 14:17 to play.
 
However the Highlands men would not go away. Both teams were streaky, going on runs of several points in alternating fashion, until the final two and a half minutes, when NMHU's James Healy hit a dagger from three-point range and opened up a 75-69 lead.
 
The Cowboys were able to draw enough fouls the remainder of the game to salt away enough free throw points to preserve the win.
 
Key for Highlands was getting to the line 33 times and hitting 27 shots, for a team percentage of 81.8 percent. The Eagles only took 13 foul shots, but hit 10 of them.
 
Four Eagles stood out in double figures. Vonsinh Sayaloune led with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting – all from beyond the three-point arc. Michael Johnson got 13 points, also shooting 5-of-8. Austin Hall had one his better shooting nights, hitting 6-of-10 from the field and finishing with 12 points. Darius Polley got 11 points and added seven assists on offense to go with a team-high six rebounds.
 
The 80 points for Chadron State was a season high.
 
For NMHU, Kieran Woods was the main conduit for the Cowboy offense, hitting 10-of-14 from the field and 4-of-5 from the foul line. He finished with 25 points, and teammate Ron Lawton added 21, mostly from the charity stripe, draining 14-of-18 foul shots.
 
CSC will be back at home next weekend hosting Colorado Christian on Friday, February 3, and Colorado Mines on Saturday. Both are at 7:30 p.m.