RAPID CITY, SD- The Cougars continued play on Saturday afternoon as they traveled to take on South Dakota Mines. Their defense was absolutely smothering as they held the Hardrockers to their second lowest point total all season in a 59-38 victory. 

Bradley Land immediately hit a jumper less than 20 seconds in, and Schafer Recihart quickly followed with a layup. A Promise Idiaru jumper had the Cougars offense rolling. Bobby McWard drilled a three-pointer, and a layup from CJ Barnes put CCU up 14-12 midway through the half. 

Barnes continued his strong play with a jumper, while an Idiaru layup and Barnes dunk had the Cougars up three. The teams battled back and forth from there, trading baskets until a late three from McWard sent CCU to the half leading 29-28. 

Barnes continued his best game of the season with another dunk, and the defense began to put the clamps on the South Dakota Mines offense. Tate Odvody got a layup to go, and back-to-back jumpers from Barnes put his team up 37-32. Idiaru began to get going with a jumper and tipin to push the lead to 45-34 with 10 minutes to play. 

A McWard three-pointer widened the gap to 14, and the defense continued to limit the scoring of the Hardrockers. A Jacob Everson jumper ballooned the lead to 18 at 54-36, while Reichart iced things with a three of his own. Barnes scored the last points for his team with a jumper as the defense held the Hardrockers to just 10 second half points in a convincing 59-38 victory. 

Barnes had his best game of the season, scoring 14 points with a pair of steals. McWard tallied 12 points, while Reichart and Idiaru chipped in 11 and 10 points respectively. 

The Cougars will play again on February 11 as they host CSU Pueblo at 8 p.m. MST.