LAKEWOOD, CO- Colorado Christian returned to the CCU Event Center for their RMAC home opener on Thursday night against South Dakota Mines. Led by an efficient offense and stifling defense, CCU came away with a well earned 60-54 victory over the Hardrockers to improve to 2-1 in conference play.
Bobby McWard was hot early as he hit a jumper followed by a three-pointer.
Bradley Land nailed a jumper moments later, and
Tate Odvody drove for a layup as CCU jumped ahead 9-7.
Schafer Reichart converted a three-point play and hit a pair of free throws as the two teams battled to a 14-7 Cougars lead midway through the half.
Land connected from beyond the arc to extend the lead to 17-7, and the defense continued to make things difficult for the visitors.
Shaylen Woodberry drilled a deep three to push the lead all the way to 14, and a let three-point play from Odvody sent the teams to the locker room with CCU leading 29-17.
The offense continued to hum coming out of the break as Land and Odvody scored quick baskets. The Hardrockers would not go away without a fight, however, hitting four straight threes at one point to narrow the lead to just 40-37 for the hosts. Reichart responded with five straight points of his own off of a jumper and layup with the foul as Colorado Christian took a 45-41 lead into the final 10 minutes of play.
It was a battle down the stretch as the Cougars looked to stave off the comeback attempt.
Jacob Everson helped the cause with a three-pointer, and
Promise Idiaru tacked on a layup for a seven point lead at 50-43. Idiaru continued to hit big baskets as he knocked down a three, and an emphatic one-handed dunk from Land with a little over four minutes to go had the crowd going wild inside the tin shed. South Dakota Mines hung around and even cut the lead to one point with a three with 2:22 to play. That was as close as they would get as Reichart and Land sealed it from the free throw line and the defense did not allow another point from that moment on as CCU closed out a much needed and well deserved 60-54 victory.
Leading the way on offense was Land with 15 points and Reichart with 13. Reichart pulled down a team high 7 rebounds with 4 assists, while Land tallied 6 boards and Odvody dished out four assists as well. As a team the Cougars shot 45.7% from the field and 40% from three-point range. An important piece to the victory was going 12-13 from the free throw line while the Hardrockers went just 1-3.
The Cougars will look to make it two in a row at home on December 14 against Black Hills State with tipoff set for 3 p.m. MST.
