February 27, 2023 -- CHADRON, Neb. -- After winning the final two games of the regular season last week, the Chadron State College men's basketball team will advance to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's playoffs tomorrow to take on Colorado School of Mines in Golden.  Tipoff will be at 7:30.
               
Last week, the Eagles initially stopped South Dakota Mines 85-76 and then edged Black Hills State 88-86.  Both games had plenty of drama.
               
With Mines' Alejandro Rama sinking all six of his 3-point shots in the first 11 minutes, the Hardrockers took a 30-17 lead in the first game.  Mines still led 44-39 at halftime and remained ahead until Chadron State's Bryce Latimer nailed a 3-pointer that put the Eagles on top 66-65.  That was the game's only lead change.
               
Latimer would score 13 more points and finished with 43, tying him for fifth on CSC's all-time list.  The 5-foot-10 junior from Stone Mountain, Ga., was 13-of-19 from the field, including four-of-seven on 3-pointers, after he'd made just 10 treys previously. The Hardrockers tried to stop him. He was fouled 10 times and was 13-of-14 from the free throw line.
               
Isaiah Wyatt also scored 15 points for CSC while both Rama and Brevin Walter had 24 for Mines.
               
Next up for the Eagles was Black Hills State, which came to Chadron with a 24-3 season record and 18-3 in the RMAC.  Although the Yellow Jackets went on a 12-0 run to go ahead 29-18 midway in the first half, the Eagles soon had an 11-3 surge to cut the margin to 44-41 at halftime.
               
Neither team led by more than four points in the second half, when there were six ties and 13 lead changes.  A dunk and a putback by CSC center Porter Anderson in the final 80 seconds gave the Eagles the lead for keeps, although Black Hills had a 3-point shot from out of the corner that barely went off the far side of the rim as the buzzer was about to sound.
               
CSC Coach Shane Paben said the Eagles had beaten an outstanding team, and commended his players for working hard and improving immensely.
               
Yellow Jackets' All-American Joel Scott was the game's top scorer with 29 points while Matt Ragsdale scored 18 and Adam Moussa 16. The hosts put five players in double-figures, led by Josh Robinson with 26 and both Wyatt and Anderson with 19.
               
The two wins gave the Eagles 10 victories in their last 11 games, a 19-9 season record and a 16-6 conference mark, good for fifth place.  It's the best record for a CSC men's team since 1999-2000. The Eagles had lost four straight games in early January before catching fire.
               
Tomorrow's game will be the Eagles' second against Colorado Mines in Golden in 10 days.  The Orediggers won the Feb. 18 contest 78-74.  It was their 27^th consecutive win over Chadron State. Mines enters the playoffs with an overall 24-4 record and an 18-4 RMAC log. 
               
Robinson led CSC with 31 points while going 13-of-17 on field goal shots, but as a team the Eagles shot only 43.8%, their lowest since mid-January. The fact that Mines blocked 10 shots was major factor for the dip.
               
The Eagles also were just 13-21 at the free throw line while the Orediggers were a perfect 12-12.
               
Free throws have been a big ally of the Eagles, who have excellent quickness and play aggressively. They enter the playoffs with more free throws made than the opponents have shot. CSC is 380 of 522 at the line and the foes are 292-385.
               
Tomorrow's other first-round playoff pairings have Metro State at Colorado Mesa, Westminster at Black Hills State and Regis at Fort Lewis.  After Colorado Mines thumped Fort Lewis 75-64 in Durango on Saturday night, Mesa will host for the remainder of the playoffs this weekend if the Mavericks can hold off Metro tomorrow evening.