Stephanie Ruiz (3) works her way past Chadron's Taryn Foxen during Adams State's 87-78 victory on Saturday night. Ruiz hit on 4 of 9 attempted three pointers adding 16 points to the Grizzlies point totals.

ALAMOSA— Saturday night Plachy Hall reopened their doors after taking a little time off for Christmas. The host Grizzlies closed out 2017 with a bang, the women taking down Chadron State 87-78 and the men pleasing the crowd with a come from behind nail biter 75-74.

The last time the ladies were on the court they suffered a 59-55 defeat at the hands of Colorado Christian the night before their meeting with the Eagles of Chadron State.

The ladies opened play and fell behind early to the tune of a 10-4 deficit. Adams State answered with a 5 point run to bring themselves within 1. Then the go ahead free throw from Brooke Neal resulted in the only lead change of the game as the Grizzlies would proceed to run away with both the lead and the game. Adams State at one point even opened up an 18-point gap.  

Stephanie Ruiz paced Adams with 16 points racking up 12 of them from 3-point land. Adams played conservative with the lead, keeping players fresh. The Grizzly bench, led by Macy Meyers, wound up posting 38 points.

Meyers contributed 14 points with a 75 percent shooting clip, and the ladies coasted to an 87-78 win.

The men came in with a 85-83 win over Colorado Christian. However they had a tougher time than the women with putting Chadron State to bed.  The men were in for a seesaw battle that went back and forth all the way to the finish.

To start the game Chadron State dressed 7 players. One might have thought that would slow them down or tire them out, but the Eagles actually took the lead into the locker room 37-31. The Grizzlies opened the  second half allowing 5 unanswered points, triggering a game of call and answer.

Shane Johnson loads and fires from beyond the arc in Saturday's 75-74 razor edge win over Chadron State. Johnson led the Grizzlies with 22 points and boasted a 90 percent  shooting clip from the free throw line.

The Grizzlies would rally back to a tie at 42 points accented by a dunk from Mike Thomas. Then after going into remission for a short time it was another rally this time accented by a lay-up from Brandon Sly to tie the game at 50. Letting go of the wheel for the third and final time Adams State found themselves in a 12 point hole.

Trailing 72-60 with a little more than 5 minutes to play triggered something inside of Grizzly Shane Johnson. Johnson mauled Chadron with 9 of his team leading 22 points in just over 2 minutes to hoist Adams to within one of the Eagles.

With the lead within swiping distance Jarret Givens would bury the go ahead jumper with 8 seconds to play. The Grizzlies overcame one final onslaught to close out a 75-74 victory. Givens placed third on the Grizzlies in scoring with 11 points. Brandon Sly was second with 12 and was two assists shy of a double-double.

The Grizzlies will look to build on their success when they host another home weekend against University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Metro State University- Denver Jan. 5-6.