Rocky Mountain broke open a tight contest with a 47-point second half to down South Dakota Mines 86-68 in a men's college basketball game in Billings on Saturday night.
The Hardrockers were coming off a season opening win over Great Falls University on Friday and played the Bears tough for the game's first 20 minutes.
Rocky Mountain held a
39-36 lead at the intermission.
Rocky took control of the contest by going to the boards as the hosts held a 40-24 rebounding advantage over Mines in the game.
A.J. Trennepohl reached the 20-point plateau for the second straight game as he led the Hardrockers with 20 points after dropping in 25 on Friday.
Brandon Smith chipped in with 13 markers while Robbie Fedor added 11 for Mines.
The Bears (3-0 overall) were led by Chase Sukut's game-high 24 points, including five 3-pointers. Devin Uskoski tossed in 17 with Nate Richardson adding 15 in the win.
Rocky shot 54 percent from the floor while Mines managed to hit on 43 percent of its shots for the game.
The Bears were 7-of-13 from beyond the arc compared to the Hardrockers 7-of-20 effort.
South Dakota Mines, (1-1 overall) will travel for a pair of weekend games. On Friday, they will held to Yankton to play Mount Marty. On Saturday the 'Rockers will visit Mitchell for a game with Dakota Wesleyan University.
