Chargers Never Trail, Beat Broncos 82-65

(Sioux City, IA) – The men's basketball team made the road trip to Sioux City, IA on Saturday, but were unable to come away with the win, losing 82-65 to the Briar Cliff.

Briar Cliff opened the scoring with a three, then after a free throw, they hit another three to go up 7-0. Sophomore Quinn Johnson hit a couple free throws and junior Myles Simon got a couple baskets to cut the lead to 9-6. Later in the half, sophomore Ben Boudreau was able to get to the free throw line a couple of times, making four free throws to make the score 18-16. 

A quick 5-0 run from the Chargers opened their lead up to seven, then junior DaRon Hall got a couple of shots to fall, bringing the Broncos within three with five minutes to go. With 38 seconds left in the half, the Chargers gained some more momentum going into halftime by knocking down a three, they led the Broncos 39-32 at the break.

The Chargers opened the half by scoring the first six points. Boudreau had the answer, getting a bucket plus the foul. After his made free throw, Hastings forced a turnover and Simon scored to bring the deficit back to eight four minutes in.

After a scoreless minute and a half, Hall cut the lead to six. Hall later got the Broncos to within four points, but a 5-0 Charger run brought the lead back to nine. A Briar Cliff three-pointer at the seven-minute mark extended the lead to double digits.

Hall would hit a three with six minutes left to get within nine, but that would be the last time that the Broncos would trail by less than 10. The Chargers, who outrebounded the Broncos 30-20, grew the lead to 17 before time expired, as they wrapped up the 82-65 defeat.

Hall led Hastings in scoring with a career-high 28 points. Boudreau was the only other Bronco who reached double digits with 12. Simon and sophomore David Hageman each had eight points in the loss.

Up next, Hastings will travel to Yankton, SD to play Mount Marty at 7:45pm on Tuesday, Nov. 26.