BUTTE — No. 1-seeded Rocky Mountain College continued its torrid run and seventh seed MSU-Northern pulled an upset victory as the Frontier Conference men's basketball tournament got under way Friday at the Civic Center.
The Battlin' Bears got a huge performance from Omari Nesbit on the way to a 69-60 victory over eighth seed Mayville State (N.D.) to earn a trip to the semifinal round.
It was Rocky's 16th consecutive win under first-year coach Danny Neville. The Bears, who have already earned an automatic bid to the NAIA tournament, improved to 26-3.
Meanwhile, MSU-Northern knocked off No. 2 Bellevue (N.D.) 83-74 to shake up the bracket. The Lights, with the win, are also on to the semifinal round.
Luke Holacek, Austin Ramos and Tracen Jilot all reached double digits in the point column for Northern, which improved to 17-12 overall.
The Bears and Lights will play in the semifinals on Sunday against opponents to be determined. Saturday's other quarterfinal games pit No. 4 Montana Western against No. 5 Montana Tech, and No. 3 Carroll versus No. 6 Dakota State (S.D.)
Rocky Mountain 69, Mayville State (N.D.) 60
Nesbit poured in 27 points and pulled down six rebounds as top-seeded Rocky advanced. The Battlin' Bears led by as many as 24 points on the way to securing a berth in the semifinal round.
Royce Robinson added 15 points and six boards for Rocky, which hasn't lost since Dec. 20 under the guidance of Neville, the Frontier's recently named coach of the year.
Nesbit made 10 of 18 from the floor and hit 6 of 8 from the foul line. As a team, the Bears shot 47.3% and dominated Mayville State on the glass by a 39-21 margin.
Malik Siggers had 26 points for eighth-seeded Mayville State, which finished its season with a 10-20 record. Siggers was the only Comets player to reach double figures.
Rocky went ahead 57-33 after two foul shots by Kade Erickson with 13:08 left. Mayville State closed the game on a 27-12 run, pulling within as close as five points when Darius Brant hit a jumper with 1:16 left.
But a Nesbit dunk with 30 seconds left was the exclamation point for the Battlin' Bears.
MSU-Northern 83, Bellevue (Neb.) 74
Anything can happen at tournament time, as Northern proved Friday. The Lights found their shooting touch at the right time to pull the upset.
Holacek had a team-high 20 points while Ramos scored 17 and Jilot added 15. The trio also combined for 13 rebounds and made nine 3-pointers between them.
Northern shot 52% from the floor overall (26 of 50) and made 11 of 25 3-point attempts. The Lights also hit 20 of 27 from the foul line. They had 42 bench points.
Bellevue's Jaden Phillips had a game high 22 points and R.J. Smith added 16 points and nine rebounds.
Ahamad Bynum scored 14 points. Teammate Mathok Mathok chipped in 11. Bellevue pulled to within three points with 2:45 remaining but Northern got a key basket from Claysen Delp and then was able to salt the game away from the line.
