COLORADO SPRINGS – February 11, 2017 – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs men's basketball team had payback for Chadron State College on Saturday night, turning back a feisty Eagle bunch at the last minute in a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest. UCCS won the game 74-73 after some late-game theatrics.
 
The Eagles nipped the Mountain Lions 75-71 in overtime on their own court in December.
 
CSC is now 2-21 (2-17 RMAC) while UCCS goes to 11-13 (10-9 RMAC).
 
"The word for tonight is grit," said CSC head men's basketball coach Houston Reed. "It's never too late in the season to see leadership emerge from your team, and that's what we saw tonight. We always talk about the highlights, but the effort we saw in defensive transition, and the tough plays we made tonight show what this team is made of. That said, UCCS made one more shot than we did tonight."
 
Chadron State's loss came after CSC fell behind 10 early at 23-13, but started a 20-4 run with 2:30 left in the first half which put the Eagles up 43-36. They later pushed over another run of 11-2 to get their highest lead of 11 at 55-44 with 10:49 to play.
 
CSC faltered in the last 10 minutes as four players picked up their fourth foul early in the second half. Austin Hall exited with five fouls at 7:59, and the Mountain Lions picked up their first lead of the half at 3:49 on the clock.
 
With a minute to play, however, Darius Polley drew a foul on a loose ball rebound, sending UCCS star TreShawn Wilford to the bench with five fouls. Polley sank a free throw pulling the Eagles to within one at 72-71.
 
After the Mountain Lions turned the ball over on a shot clock violation, a Myles Busby three-pointer rattled in and out.
 
UCCS capitalized on a foul with 16 seconds left and used the double bonus to go back up by three. A three-pointer by Vonsinh Sayaloune was then blocked by Padiet Wang, who landed on Sayaloune to send the freshman sharpshooter to the foul line.
 
The first two shots were true, but the final one had just too much on it, as the Mountain Lions hung on for the one-point win.
 
Wilford of UCCS remained the game's leading scorer after fouling out with 16 points on the night.
 
Darius Polley answered with 15 points, and Leigh Saffin went 3-of-7 from three-point range to finish with 14.
 
The Eagles, despite an offensive and overall rebounding advantage and a 12-12 tie in turnovers, got two fewer shots off from the field over the course of the game. They shot well, however, from the foul line, sinking 27 of 35.
 
Chadron State has a quick turnaround with another game on Tuesday at Regis University in Denver.