LAKEWOOD, CO- Colorado Christian returned to their home floor for a pre-Thanksgiving matchup with Chadron State on Tuesday evening. Led by hot shooting and some stifling defense, CCU ran away with a 76-60  victory over the Eagles. 

Though the matchup tonight was a non-conference matchup, both teams were eager to make a statement against a fellow RMAC competitor. The Cougars did that early as Shaylen Woodberry, Schafer Reichart and CJ Barnes all put in early baskets. Bobby McWard then sank a three as the home team roared out to a 9-0 advantage. Jacob Everson sank a midrange jumper as the midway point of the half hit with the Cougars leading 13-4. 

Barnes continued what would prove to be a strong night with a dunk, and a layup from Nathaniel Law made it 22-10. Ezra Guest joined the barrage as he knocked down a three-pointer, and a few minutes later he knocked down another shot from downtown to stretch the lead to 30-16. A tip in layup at the buzzer from Law sent the home team to the locker room leading 32-22. 

The Eagles began to show some fight in the second half as they clawed back to within seven, but each time they made a run, CCU responded with points of their own. McWard was hot to start the half with a pair of threes, and another dunk from Barnes and layup from Bradley Land kept the lead comfortable. A Land jumper made it 50-43 heading into the final 10 minutes of play. 

After a Chadron State three pointer brought them closer, Land completely put all momentum on his teams' side as he took a beautiful entry pass from Tanner Hecht and went over two defenders for the one handed jam. McWard came up big with yet another three, and Lincoln Cantrall stretched the lead to 63-48 with a layup. Cantrall then drilled a three-pointer while Hecht converted a layup for the 71-53 lead with just 2:10 to go. Barnes finished the game with one more dunk as the Cougars rolled to a 76-60 victory over their conference foe. 

McWard paced the offense with 17 points on 5-9 shooting from beyond the arc, and Barnes followed with 15 points of his own. Land led his team with 8 rebounds, while he and Reichart each dished out 5 assists apiece. 

Colorado Christian will begin RMAC play on the road as they travel to Western Colorado for a 7:30 p.m. MST matchup with the Mountaineers on December 5.