The Chadron State College men’s basketball team grabbed an early lead on Saturday evening, but host Westminster College secured the game late in the first half and early in the second, and rode out its advantage down the stretch, to finish with the win in Salt Lake City to run its season record to 4-2, all in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.

The Eagles fell to 2-3, all within the RMAC schedule.

CSC jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the first seven and a half minutes. Teddy Parham, Jr., hit a pair of three-pointers and Jacob Jefferson made a pair of field goals, while Psalm Maduakor swiped a steal and converted for a pair of free throws to stretch the Eagles’ lead to its largest margin of the night, with 12:20 remaining in the first half.

The Eagles and Griffins battled back and forth at that point, with Westminster going on a 9-2 run to end the first half to make it 35-28 WC at the midpoint break.

In the second half, Westminster scored the first eight points to go ahead 43-28 after junior guard Joey Andrews hit a two-point field goal and two free throws to start the period.

The Griffins got ahead by as many as 19, with 13:53 left to play at 52-33 Griffins, but the Eagles continued to chip away at the Westminster lead over the remainder of the game.

CSC got to within four on a Marcus Jefferson three at the 1:07 mark, to cut the WC lead to 63-59, but Marcus Jefferson also had a turnover down the stretch while hitting the only other shot for the Eagles from the foul line to finish at a 65-60 deficit.

The Eagles lost by one fewer point than they had won by four weeks ago in Chadron, when they were victorious 66-60.

Westminster was led in scoring by junior forward Brayden Johnson, with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Andrews, who hit five of six from the field and two of three from beyond the arc, had 14 points.

The Eagles got 16 points each from Jacob Jefferson and Teddy Parham, Jr. Deundra Roberson, a junior guard who joined the team days ago, acquired a team-high five boards.

Westminster shot 50 percent from the field, compared to CSC’s 42 percent. The Griffins also went 7-of-18 from three, for 39 percent, while the Eagles hit 9 of 32 shots from long range, for 28 percent accuracy.

The CSC men are back at home January 15-16 hosting Western Colorado and Fort Lewis.

Lady Eagles Drop 84-63 Decision To Westminster

Led by senior Mariah Martin’s 22 points, the Westminster College women’s basketball team came out on top of Chadron State College by a score of 84-63 on Saturday evening, running the Griffins’ record to 2-1, all within the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference schedule, while dropping CSC’s record to 0-5 on the season.

“We played some defense early, but they were playing us hard inside,” said CSC Head Women’s Basketball Coach Janet Raymer. “It looked we came in off a long bus ride and were gassed. We came out immediately ready to compete, but we fell off the map a little bit in the second quarter, and then the third and fourth quarter it got away from us.”

CSC gained a lead less than 2:30 into the game and held it nearly through the midpoint of the second quarter.

The Griffins turned on a 14-3 run at that point. During the final five minutes of the first half, the Griffins’ Kaylee Carlsen hit a pair of three-pointers, while Lyndsi Rich and Martin each added a pair of twos.

Coming off a 44-35 halftime lead, Westminster wasn’t threatened in the third or fourth quarters, leading by as many as 28.

Hazel Fui, Taryn Foxen, and Ashayla Powers filed the Griffins’ lead down to 84-63 down the stretch.

Martin added a team-high seven assists to her 22 points, on 9-of-13 shooting. She was joined in the twenties by teammate Lyndsi Rich, who scored 20, on 9-of-14 field goals, with 11 rebounds. Sarah McGinley had nine points and led all players with 12 boards.

For the Eagles, the leader offensively was Foxen, who finished with 19 points, with 7-of-15 shots from the field. She added a game-high eight assists.

The other two Eagles scoring in double digits were Fui, with 15 points, and Jori Peters, with 12. Bailey Brooks led the Eagles with six rebounds.

The home team outshot CSC 55.4 percent, to 37.3 percent, and it out-boarded the visiting Eagles 46 to 24.

Chadron State had a season-low of six turnovers.

The Eagles next host Western Colorado and Fort Lewis on January 15-16 in a pair of RMAC contests.