CHADRON, Neb. – After a 2-0 week at home, Chadron State men's basketball will try to keep the momentum going as they rematch with two regional rivals on a short week. 

The Eagles (9-9, 5-5 RMAC) are at a tipping point, currently in a four-way tie for sixth place in the RMAC standings with the top eight schools making the conference tournament. 

Chadron will face South Dakota Mines (3-15 RMAC, 3-7 RMAC) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Rapid City and Black Hills State (10-8, 6-4 RMAC) on Thursday in Chadron at the Chicoine Center at 7 p.m.

Both games will be streamed live on the RMAC Network. Double Q Country and doubleqcountry.com will carry both games, with Tuesday's game on 97.5 and 105.9 FM and Thursday's game on 97.5 FM, with Dave Collins on the call. Tickets remain available for Thursday's home showdown. 

Looking Back
Chadron State earned back-to-back victories against two of the RMAC's western-most schools, defeating Westminster 71-59 and Colorado Mesa 69-67. 

RECAPS: Westminster | Colorado Mesa

The victories were a much-need rebound after a buzzer-beating loss the previous Saturday to New Mexico Highlands in overtime. The Eagles used a 17-2 first-half run against Westminster and led by double digits the entire second half. 

Things were much closer against Colorado Mesa, as the Eagles never led by more than nine points and survived a flurry that saw the Mavericks rally from nine down with two minutes to go to within one point with two seconds left but remained ahead.

Historic Wins
Chadron State snapped a long losing streak against Colorado Mesa, as CMU had won 13 straight games against the Eagles prior to CSC breaking through last weekend. 

The win is the first by Chadron State over Colorado Mesa since December 5, 2014. The Eagles have had some near misses against CMU at the Chicoine Center in recent years, as each of the previous two meetings in Chadron between the two schools had gone to overtime. 

That makes two straight weeks that this year's Chadron State has broken a long streak. On January 16, CSC beat Adams State on the road 91-86, making history as the first win for the Eagles in Alamosa since 2009. 

Top Performers
Darrius Miles led the way scoring against Westminster, putting up 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting with seven rebounds and two blocked shots. The 21 points is the most for Miles in a Chadron State opponent against a Division II opponent as the Texas native previously scored 22 against NAIA school Central Christian earlier this season.

The 6-foot-11 Miles kept up the rebounding against Colorado Mesa, grabbing another eight rebounds alongside six points, three assists and another block. For the week, 12 of Miles's 15 rebounds were defensive boards. 

The week's most consistent scorer for Chadron State was veteran guard Trey Ballard, who averaged 16 points per game after tallying 17 against Westminster and 15 against Colorado Mesa. Ballard shot 55 percent from the field (12-22) for the week and hit three three-pointers against the Griffins. 

Jalen Thomas had an extremely underrated box score underneath three double figure scorers for the Eagles against CMU. Thomas finished just shy of a triple double with eight points, eight rebounds and a team-high nine assists. For the season, Thomas ranks second in points per game (12.1) and rebounds per game (4.9) while leading the team in assists (3.7) and steals (1.1) per contest.

Lights Out
Chadron State had historical offensive output on December 16 in their 107-50 win over Central Christian.  

The Eagles made 43 of 64 field goal attempts (.672) and were even better, percentage-wise, from three-point land, sinking 16 of 23 attempts for a .696 percentage, which is the best single-game percentage by an RMAC team this season. 

Chadron State's 16 made three-pointers are just two off the single-game school record of 18, set on November 21, 2021 against Haskell Indian Nations. That game also featured the single-game program record for assists (35). 

The 57-point margin of victory is the second highest in school history, trailing only a 103-45 CSC win over South Dakota Mines in November of 1998. Ironically, the Hardrockers had defeated Chadron State by 10 points just 11 days before that 58-point blowout. 

In the Polls
The RMAC standings received a shake-up at the top of the standings, with Regis defeating both MSU Denver and Colorado School of Mines, which entered the week undefeated in RMAC play. Colorado School of Mines also defeated MSU Denver this week.

The D2CSC South Central regional rankings have four RMAC teams among the region's top 10. Colorado School of Mines is slotted as the No. 2 team in the region, while MSU Denver is No. 5 and Fort Lewis and Regis are tied at No. 8. 

Lone Star Conference teams make up the other six slots in the poll (No. 1 Dallas Baptist, No. 3 Midwestern State, No. 4 St. Mary's, No. 6 Lubbock Christian, No. 7 West Texas A&M and No. 10 UTPB).

With a new coaching staff and predominantly new players, Chadron State men's basketball was picked 15^thin the preseason RMAC Coaches Poll for the 2024-25 campaign. 

Colorado School of Mines, who finished third in the league last season, were picked first for this year, receiving 11 of 15 first-place votes. MSU Denver received two first-place votes to come second, followed by Regis in third, which received one first-place vote. 

Black Hills State was fourth in the poll, while Colorado Mesa received the final first-place vote and finished fifth. The rest of the poll includes CSU Pueblo, UCCS and New Mexico Highlands in the final RMAC Tournament positions, followed by Fort Lewis, South Dakota Mines, Western Colorado, Westminster, Adams State, Colorado Christian, and the Eagles. 

Scouting the Hardrockers
South Dakota Mines is 3-15 overall and 3-7 in the RMAC. The Hardrockers are coming off their best weekend of the season, defeating Western Colorado 72-61 and Westminster 64-53 to improve from a 1-15 start. Chadron State previously beat South Dakota Mines 84-56 in Chadron on December 5.

Freshman guard Tre Dowdell and senior forward Keagen Smith have been SDM's best players throughout the season. Dowdell averages 12.3 points per game and is coming off a season-high 23 against Westminster. 

Smith ranks second in points per game at 11.7, leading the Hardrockers with 19 points against Western Colorado and finishing with a team-high nine rebounds and five assists against the Griffins.

Hardrocker Head Coach Eric Glenn has been the head man since the 2018-19 season but spent 13 seasons prior to that as an assistant under Jason Henry. He has led the Hardrocker to the only two RMAC Tournaments in program history. Glenn is a Chadron State alum and was an assistant coach with the Eagles from 1993-95.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets
Black Hills State is 10-8 overall and 6-4 in the RMAC. The Yellow Jackets had a split week last week, falling by two points to Colorado Mesa in overtime and recovering to beat Western Colorado 87-64 two days later. BHSU previously beat Chadron State 89-69 on December 7. 

Caelin Hearne is the Yellow Jackets' leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, tied for sixth in the RMAC. Hearne has scored double figures in all but one game this season, and one of his three 20-point games came earlier this season against CSC. 

Cam Lowe, a redshirt freshman from Colorado Springs, averages 14.9 points per game and ranks fourth in the RMAC with 7.6 rebounds per contest. Lowe had three straight double-doubles from January 11-18 and then scored 25 points in the overtime win over Colorado Mesa.

Head Coach Ryan Thompson is in his seventh season at Black Hills State. He is a two-time RMAC Coach of the Year and was at the helm for two Final Four appearances. Since 2003, Chadron is 10-20 against Black Hills State, though the Eagles won the most recent match in Chadron.

Coach's Corner
Chadron State Head Coach Chris Francis is in his first season leading the Eagle men's basketball program. Francis comes to Chadron after serving as the head coach at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (NAIA) since 2015. 

At USAO, Francis put together a career record of 176-94. Francis led the Drovers to five NAIA National Tourney appearances, a Sooner Athletic Conference Championship, and a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, also taking USAO to an NAIA Elite Eight. Francis is a two-time Sooner Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, winning the award in 2017 and 2022. 

A former student-athlete, Francis was a starting guard and captain of the men's basketball team at Rogers State University. In 2011, he helped lead Rogers State to the NAIA Elite Eight and a 30-2 record. Following that season, Francis was named the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He was recently inducted into the Rogers State Athletic Hall of Fame.