Dakota senior standout Ryan Rollins proved you can’t keep a good player down on Tuesday night at Eisenhower.

Rollins, a guard/forward, picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter, but still finished with 26 points, leading the visiting Cougars to a 72-59 MAC Red Division win over the Eagles.

“That’s his average,” Dakota coach Paul Tocco said. “We can count on him for 26 even when he’s in foul trouble. He’s a smart player and he’s our guy. I can’t say enough about him.”

Eisenhower, behind four points by Mario Getaw, held a slim 15-14 lead after one quarter, before Rollins sparked a 16-10 second quarter run with nine points, giving Dakota a 30-25 lead at halftime.

“This is always a tough gym to play in,” Tocco said. “Eisenhower is always prepared and well-coached. They’re the type of team you have to be prepared for the way they shoot the ball in their own gym. I thought we weathered the storm early because they shot the ball well early. We came back and did what we do well.”

Rollins added 12 more points in the third quarter as Dakota went on a 21-14 spurt, pushing its advantage to 51-39 heading into the final period.

“We just don’t match up well with Dakota,” Eisenhower coach Tom Antishin said. “They have big posts and it’s tough to stop Rollins. We knew he would get his points. They’re a tough team. I thought we did well.”

Eisnehower made a run at Dakota in the final quarter, cutting the Cougar lead to 62-56 on a layup by Getaw with 3:13 to play.

“We were there, cutting it down to six with about four minutes to go,” Antishin said. “I kept telling our kids it’s a two-possession game and just go out and execute and score. We missed some big shots and Dakota hit some big shots.”

Dakota, though, closed out the win with six straight free throws by Joshuah Hines, who had 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.

“He’s been out the last two games due to injury and we’ll take his contributions,” Tocco said. “It really helped. We need that second and third scorer.”

Tocco praised his team’s effort defensively, limiting the Eagles to get easy layups and forcing them to shoot from the perimeter.

“We have been doing a good job lately switching up our man and zone defenses,” Tocco said. “We give different looks. We went to the zone in the second quarter and took away what they were doing a little bit.”

Besides Rollins and Hines, the Cougars also received 10 points from Xavier Glenn, and eight points from Joey Tocco. The win improved Dakota’s record to 6-2 overall, 2-0 league.

Eisenhower was led by Matteo Candela with 27 points.

“He’s a big-time player and he is one of our go-to guys,” Antishin said. “When he shares the ball and our team shares the ball, he gets his shots and can knock them down.”

Getaw added 10 points for the Eagles, while Chris Caladino chipped in nine points. The loss dropped Eisenhower’s record to 3-4 overall, 1-1 league.

“As soon as they stepped up their play, it really bothered us,” Antishin said. “We knew they would.”