Three in a row for Trojan men

Freshman Craig Beaudion made all seven 3-point attempts and scored a career-high 24 points as the Colby Community College men's basketball team led from the opening tip in a 63-59 win over Neosho Community College Wednesday night in Chanute.

Aside from the victory, Trojans head coach Rusty Grafel was pleased with how his team won.

"This was a great road win for us," he said. "It got a little ugly at times but this conference is so tough that some nights you have to find ways to win and on the road we did that." 

The game started slow for both teams, but by the 15:00 mark the Trojans were up 10-2. They extended the lead to 12 in the final minutes and entered the break with a 39-27 lead.

Neosho closed the gap to 42-36 in early in the second half, but Colby responded with an 11-4 run to go up 53-40 with 10:27 remaining.

"I thought we played really well the first half and the second half we played well enough to hold on for the win," Grafel said. "We definitely played tough and that is what wins you most road games."

Colby struggled from the free-throw line (6-16) but had only 10 turnovers and went 11-21 from behind the arc. Ty Dalton ended with 11 assists, Xavier Smith had 11 points, and David Hall chipped in nine points and eight rebounds.

Austin Downing led Neosho with 19 points and Montrell Dixson had 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Trojans, now 10-4 overall and 6-4 in the Jayhawk Conference, tip at 8 p.m. Saturday with Seward County (10-4, 6-4) at the Community Building.