It was the Cougars that were playing host to Chadron State for a men's basketball matchup on Wednesday night at the CCU Event Center for a battle between the two RMAC opponents. It was a nail biter as both teams fought for control throughout the entire game. Bonus basketball was needed to decide the winner in this game as it was tied 73-73 at the end of regulation. The OT period favored the Cougs as they came away with the 80-79 victory.
 
How it Happened – CCU had a strong start to the game as they opened the game on an 8-2 run nearly five minutes into play. Chadron State battled back into the game and went ahead of CCU 11-10 with just under 12 minutes left in the half. From that point, the two teams exchanged buckets multiple times and continued to exchange the lead back and forth with each other. Jason Gallant had a strong first half as he hit his fourth shot of the game to notch his eighth point with five minutes left in the first half to pull the Cougars within two at 21-23, then Christian Bento hit a layup after a defensive stop to tie things up late in the half.  
The final five minutes was a battle between the two teams as they exchanged the lead multiple times. Chadron had a three point lead with under a minute left to play, then DJ McDonald hit a jumper that brought the Cougs within one at 28-29. However, the Eagles rattled off five quick points to finish out the half and ultimately take a 34-28 lead into halftime.
 
Jason Gallant led the Cougars in the first half as he scored eight points on 4-7 shooting from the floor. DJ McDonald also had a nice first half as he tallied seven points while connecting on three shots from the floor and one from beyond the arc. Isaiah Alonzo wasted little time making an impact in his first game of the season as he notched four points on 2-4 shooting and also grabbed three rebounds and had one block.
 
The Cougars quickly battled back into the game when the second half began as they began to heat up from the floor. With just under 18 minutes left in the game, the Cougars went on an impressive run to regain the lead. Maro Egodotaye made a layup with 17:26 remaining to make the score 36-39 in favor of Chadron State. Over the course of the next 6:39, the Cougars were nearly perfect as they went on a 22-13 run by shooting 9-10 from the field including 3-3 from beyond the arc which ultimately gave them the lead 56-52. That run was led by Noah Kon and DJ McDonald as Kon tallied 12 points during the stretch and McDonald scored eight.  
Chadron refused to give in and with four minutes left in the game they hit a three pointer to tie things up 68-68. The remainder of regulation remained tight as neither team could remain on top. With the Cougars trailing by one, Isaiah Alonzo was fouled with 16 seconds left and was sent to the line. Alonzo made the first free throw, but missed the second which gave Chadron the ball and a chance to win it in regulation. Tough defense from CCU forced a wild shot from the Eagles which didn't go in, so at the end of regulation the game was tied 73-73 and headed for overtime.
 
In the overtime period, the Cougs struck first as a DJ McDonald layup put them up 75-73. Maro Egodotaye hit a free throw to give CCU a three point lead 76-73, but Chadron answered with two minutes remaining as they hit a jumper to put them down by one, and then hit a pair of free throws to give the Eagles a 77-76 advantage with two minutes left. After the two teams exchanged buckets, and with CCU still trailing by one, Noah Kon came up with the play of the game on defense as he stole the ball away from Chadron and raced down to the other end of the court and made a layup to give the Cougars the 80-79 lead with 45 seconds left. Chadron had a couple of chances to win, but were unable to get past the tough Cougar defense as the final buzzer sounded giving Colorado Christian the exciting one point victory by a final score of 80-79.
 
Beyond the Box Score – DJ McDonald led the Cougars in scoring on the night as he came away with 25 points in the game. Both Noah Kon and Jason Gallant also had big games as each of them had 17. Isaiah Alonzo tallied nine points and eight rebounds in his return to the floor.
 
Up Next – Colorado Christian will take to the road for their next matchup as they will travel down to Gunnison, CO on Saturday December 10^th to take on Western Colorado in another RMAC matchup. Tip is scheduled for 7PM MST.