CHADRON, Neb. -- January 23, 2019 -- After winning back-to-back Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games last weekend to go over the .500 mark for the season, the Chadron State College men's basketball team will host the two conference leaders this weekend.

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 12-5 overall and second in the league standings at 9-2, will visit Friday night, on a nine-game win streak, and Colorado Mines, which is 14-3 for the season and 11-0 in the league, will follow Saturday night. 

"It's a big weekend for us, all right," said CSC Coach Houston Reed.  "We'll try to take care of business on Friday night and see what happens after that.  I'm sure we'll be ready to play and I know we'll put up a good fight."

The Eagles are 9-8 for the season and 7-4 in the conference to share fourth and fifth place in the 14-team league.

This weekend's visitors have at least one similarity.  Both have five players averaging in double figures.

The Colorado Springs Mountain Lions are paced by 6-foot-6 Blend Avdili at 13.4 points a game while 6-4 Padiet Wang is scoring at a 12.5 per game clip.  Both are juniors.

Senior guard Brandon Malone is third at 11.1 a game, followed by 6-5 freshman Daraun Clark at 10.7 and 6-7 senior Dalton Walker, who generally does not start, is averaging 10.4 points.

The Mountain Lions have won their last four games by a total of six points.  While on the road Jan. 11 and 12, they edged Fort Lewis 100-99 and Adams State 83-80. Last week at home, they nipped Black Hills State 73-72 and South Dakota Mines 79-78.

Reed said Colorado Mines "has it all."

"They've got outstanding guards and to go with outstanding bigs," the CSC coach noted.

The Orediggers' three losses were in November to Lubbock Christian 70-62, at Fort Hays State 75-71 in overtime and at Nebraska-Kearney 67-60 the same week as the Eagles had toppled the Lopers 70-55 in Chadron.

Since the conference schedule has opened, Coach Pryor Orser's team has had mostly smooth sailing.  The Miners won at both Colorado Springs and Colorado Mesa by only five points in early December. So far in January, their closest game has been the 78-67 win over Black Hills State in Golden last Saturday night.

The leading scorer is six-foot sophomore Mason Baker at 15.2 points a game. He's followed by 6-3 senior Ben Sonnefeld at 14.3 while 6-8 senior Ben Clare and 6-6 freshman Brendan Sullivan are each averaging 11.5 points and 6-7 Michael Glenn 10.7. 

Sophomore Joe Miks has come off the bench and made 35 of 70 three-point shots. Baker and Sonnefeld have 34 and 31 treys, respectively.

The Orediggers lead the RMAC in three-point percentage at 42.9 and are first in both scoring margin (13.9 per game) and rebounding margin (7.4).

The CSC men don't have any exceptional offensive stats, but have held most of the RMAC foes below their scoring averages and have excellent depth. Eight Eagles are averaging at least 5 points.

The Colorado Springs women's team definitely has balanced scoring. Abby Feikert, a 5-5 sophomore, is the team's leading scorer at 7.9 points a game. Jae Ferrin, a 6-foot grad student, is next at 7.7.

The Lady Lions are 7-10 overall and 6-5 in the conference. They lost to Black Hills State 62-58 and beat South Dakota Mines 57-45 last weekend at home.

The Colorado Mines women are 10-6 and 7-4, putting them in a fourth-place tie in the RMAC standings. They lost their first three conference contests, but have won seven of the last eight. They toppled Black Hills and South Dakota Mines 78-56 and 67-55, respectively, last weekend.

The Orediggers' top scorer is 5-11 freshman Denali Pinto at 13.4 points a game. Senior Nicole Archambeau is averaging 10.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. Sophomore Raven Herrera's stats are about the same--10.5 and 7.1

The Mines ladies are out-rebounding their foes by a 43-34 per game margin.

The CSC women hope to have freshman Angelique Gall available this weekend.  She has missed the last four games because of a concussion.  She is shooting 55.6 percent from the field and averaging 8.9 points a game.

This will be the next to last weekend to watch the Eagles in the Chicoine Center. Seven of their final nine games will be on the road.  The only other home dates are Feb. 15 and 16 when the South Dakota rivals will invade.

CSC Eagle Rewards members will receive bonuses in the mobile app this weekend for all four games.