By: Paxton Ritchie
CSC Sports Information Director
PUEBLO, Colo. – Chadron State men's basketball rode a dominant first half and withstood a furious second-half rally to earn a 66-62 road win over the 7-1 CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves in Pueblo Thursday night.
The Eagles (5-5, 2-1 RMAC) built up a 16-point halftime lead and stayed ahead the entire second half, although the ThunderWolves cut the lead to a basket on two separate occasions and missed a potential game-tying jumper with 10 seconds left.
Senior guard Zy Wright scored an NCAA career-high 24 points and eight rebounds, shooting 6 of 12 from the field and a perfect 10 of 10 from the line, including the final two free throws to ice the game with seven seconds to play.
Julio Phipps scored 17 points while Jalen Thomas had 10 points plus four steals for the Eagles, who committed just six turnovers over the game's 40 minutes. The Eagles shot 36 percent from the field and 90 percent from the line (18-20).
Wright scored 11 of the team's first 17 points, including going 6-for-6 at the free throw line and hitting a deep three on a broken play as the shot clock wound down.
Moments later, Julio Phipps recorded back-to-back layups off of steals, one of his own and another steal by Zach Smith, leading Pueblo to call timeout with CSC up 21-16.
That was only the start of a 16-2 run to make it 33-18, with four more points apiece coming from Wright and Thomas during that scoring run.
During the Eagles' first half, they forced 10 CSU Pueblo turnovers while committing just one, had seven steals while Pueblo had zero and shot 42 percent from the floor compared to the hosts 27.6 percent while leading the ThunderWolves 38-22 at halftime.
CSU Pueblo began the second half on a 7-0 run before Treyson Neff put the Eagles on the board with a jumper. Pueblo hit a three, but the Eagles responded immediately with a three of their own from Wright and a transition pull-up jumper from Jalen Thomas to go back up by 13 at 45-32.
The ThunderWolves continued to chip away at the lead, however, as Chadron State went without a field goal for over five minutes of game time. CSUP guard Brevin Walter went on a personal 5-0 run with two free throws and a transition three to cut Chadron State's lead to two points at 62-60, but the Eagles found Julio Phipps for a dunk at the other end.
Rebounds loomed large down the stretch. When CSC missed a jumper with 44 seconds left, an offensive board by Phipps extended the play and allowed the Eagles to run more clock. Pueblo had a chance to tie with under 10 seconds left, but Walter's jump shot rattled off the rim and Zy Wright out-leaped post players to pull in the rebound and calmly hit two free throws to give the Eagles a four-point lead and see out the game.
After defeating CSU Pueblo, who entered ranked No. 5 in the D2CSC regional rankings, the Eagles will move on to facing UCCS (5-4, 1-2 RMAC), who are ranked No. 10 in the same rankings. The Mountain Lions lost 95-89 in overtime to Black Hills State Thursday.
Chadron State— Zy Wright 24, Julio Phipps 17, Jalen Thomas 10, Treyson Neff 6, Dalton Peterson 5, Darrius Miles 3, John Jenkins 1. Totals: 22-60 FG, 4-15 3PT, 18-20 FT. 66 points, 35 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 turnovers.