The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team has punched its ticket to the NAIA Sweet 16 in Kansas City, Mo., while the women saw their season end on Saturday afternoon.
The men picked up their 20th consecutive win by beating The Master's (Calif.) to win their pod and advance to the NAIA national tournament's final site. The women fell to the top-seeded Dordt (Iowa) Defenders.
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Rocky men 67, The Master's 66
Jacob Bilodeau knew all those years practicing free throws would pay off.
Bilodeau buried a pair of foul shots with 10.5 seconds left to lift the Rocky men past the Master's 67-66 in the second round of the NAIA tournament at the Fortin Center.
"I'm just thinking that's another pair of free throws right there to go knock down," Bilodeau said. "All those hours in the gym ... those hours definitely paid off in the end."
Rocky built a 40-29 halftime lead and led by as many as 16 before the Mustangs began to chip away. The Master's took their first lead with 1:20 to play after a three-point play for Avery Jackson.
Rocky trailed 66-65 with 38.8 seconds to play, but the defense held and Bilodeau secured the rebound before being fouled 80-plus feet from the hoop.
The Bears' defense stood tall again on the Mustangs' final shot, as Royce Robinson got his mitts on the ball forcing a wild attempt.
"I said one stop. This sounds cliche, but I look up and there's 10 seconds left and I think of all the times we worked in practice and got stops and worked on defense," Rocky head coach Danny Neville said. "I thought of all those times and was like, 'We're going to get this stop.'"
Bilodeau had nine points for Rocky, but none bigger than his two in the final minute. The Bears got a game-high 25 points from Omari Nesbit.
Rocky will now await its scheduling fate to find out when they will play in the Sweet 16 in Kansas City.
Dordt 84, Rocky women 54
The eighth-seeded Rocky women saw their season come to a close on Saturday afternoon in Sioux Center, Iowa, as the Battlin' Bears fell to top-seeded Dordt 85-54.
Rocky fell behind by 23 at halftime after only mustering five points in the second quarter. The Bears shot just 37 percent from the field and had 23 turnovers.
Isabelle Heggem was the only Rocky player in double figures as she notched 21 points.
