Moniak's career night not enough against Eagles

by Jacque Scoby

Chadron State's Marcus Ligons is being guarded by Adams State's Marcus Mortensen (left) and Roman Moniak (right) during Chadron State's 70-56 win over the Grizzlies, Thursday night. Courtesy: CSC Sports Information.

Box Score

CHADRON, Neb.— Roman Moniak (Sacramento, Calif.) scored 22 points for the Adams State College men’s basketball team.

So did Chadron State College’s Marcus Ligons.

Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, CSC’s Brandon Doke had 17 points off the bench while the next best performance for the Grizzlies was an 8-point effort from junior Wes Jensen (Molalla, Ore.).

It was that kind of a night. CSC, capitalizing on a poor shooting performance by the Grizzlies, jumped out to a 35-22 halftime lead and never looked back, taking a 70-56 win over ASC on Thursday night in CSC's Armstron Gymnasium to improve to 6-8 on the year and 1-5 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Action. The Grizzlies fell to just 5-8 on the year and an even 3-3 in the conference.

Ligons also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to record the game’s only double-double performance and led the Eagles to a 40-33 rebounding advantage.

Moniak, whose 22 points set a new career high for the junior forward, got things started for the Grizzlies as he nailed one of his four 4-pointers on the night to give the Grizzlies the early 3-0 lead. CSC’s Kenny Holston answered with a trey of his own as the teams traded buckets for the first ten minutes of the period.

Then the Eagles took over. CSC broke away from a 16-15 lead to go on a 17-3 run to open a 33-18 lead. ASC’s Russ Murray (El Cerrito, Calif.) then broke a 4-minute Grizzly scoring drought with two of his five points on the night as he and Ligons traded points to end the period with the Eagles leading 37-22.

The Grizzlies took advantage of a slightly colder Eagle team in the second half to scramble back into contention. CSC opened the half with a bucket from Adisa Tobin to stretch their lead to 17 before the Grizzlies began their comeback, narrowing the gap to as few as four points on a pair of Jensen free throws.

ASC was unable to keep that comeback effort going, however, as the Eagles hit clutch shots down the stretch to maintain their hold on the game.

Larry Charles, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) had a game-high five assists for the Grizzlies while Jensen led the way on the boards with seven.

The Grizzlies will now travel to Hays, Kan. to face the Tigers of Fort Hays State University. That game, which begins at 8 p.m. (CST), will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis at approximately 3 p.m. Sunday on KSPK-FM, 103.5 in Alamosa or online at www.kspk.com.