RAPID CITY, S.D. – South Dakota Men's Basketball dropped a home contest to Chadron State 79-88 on Thursday night.
Chadron State outscored South Dakota Mines 36-33 in the first half. Both teams played back-and-forth early until the Hardrockers went on an 8-0 run to go up 14-7.
Gray Thompson hit a three-pointer and
Fred Libby had five points in the run.
Darren Wallace and
Jason Lee combined to score four points, making the score 18-11 midway through the half.
With a 22-14 lead at the 7:43 mark, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to tie the game. Thompson and Libby hit back-to-back three-pointers to make it 28-22. A 12-2 Eagles run made the score 34-30 with 2:20 left. Chadron State held a 36-33 lead at halftime.
Guided by 70% field goal shooting in the half, the Eagles outscored the Hardrockers 52-46 to win 88-79. Chadron State started the half with a Jadon Cool three-pointer, making the score 39-33. After Tyan Sweeney made it a one-point game, the Eagles went on a 5-0 run.
A fastbreak Lee three-pointer tied the game 64-64 with 8:09 left in the game. After that basket, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run to go up 73-64. They held that advantage for the rest of the game, defeating the Hardrockers 88-79.
Lee put up his seventh 20+ point game of the season with 27 on 11-for-22 field goal shooting and 3-for-5 three-point shooting. He also had four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Thompson totaled 14 points, while Libby picked up 13. Wallace recorded 10 points and Sweeney totaled nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
South Dakota Mines shot 48.4% from the field and 41.4% from beyond the arc. While the Hardrockers only had eight turnovers, they grabbed 24 rebounds to Chadron State's 30. The Rockers had 36 points in the paint and 20 fast break points.
What's Next
The Hardrockers are on the road for the next three games, starting with Black Hills State on Saturday at 6 p.m. After a trip next weekend to UCCS and Colorado Christian, they are back home on Feb. 12 to face Regis at 7:30 p.m.
