(Editor's note: Rocky Mountain College media releases)
BILLINGS -- The Montana State-Northern men and Rocky Mountain College women each earned Frontier Conference basketball wins on Saturday at the Fortin Center. The MSUN men used a balanced effort to overcome a triple-double from Rocky's Clayton Ladine to eke out an 80-75 win, while the Rocky women made 13 3-pointers on their way to an 88-72 win over the Skylights.
Montana State-Northern men 80, Rocky Mountain College 75
Despite a triple-double from Clayton Ladine and a career-high 27 points from Grant Wallace, Rocky Mountain College fell 80-75 to MSU-Northern on Saturday night.
The game remained close through the entire night. The lead changed hands 12 times with neither team able to build a lead into the double digits. Rocky led 32-30 at the half, but were unable to hold off a Lights' team that shot 64.29 percent in the second period.
Ladine recorded only the second triple-double in the Frontier Conference this season and the first of his career. The senior from San Francisco, Calif., scored 26 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Wallace had a career-night with a team-high 27 points and ten rebounds. Hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, Darius Henderson was good for 10 points for the Battlin' Bears.
Five Lights scored in the double digits. Kavon Bey had a team-high 19 points while Adam Huse contributed 16. Mascio McCadney scored 15 points while the pair of David Harris and Gio Jackson each recorded 12.
Rocky finished the night shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from beyond the arc. MSU-Northern shot a 53.7 field goal percentage while landing 6-of-18 from deep.
The Battlin' Bears will next travel to Helena to take on Carroll College on Feb. 11.
Rocky Mountain College women 88, Montana State-Northern 72
Shooting a blistering 68.4 percent from beyond the arc, No. 24-ranked Rocky Mountain College cruised to a 88-72 win over No. 18-ranked MSU-Northern Saturday night.
The Battlin' Bears held a 49-30 lead at the half and increased the margin to as much as 23 points in the third period. Rocky landed 13-of-19 on their 3-point attempts on the night in large part due to Kloie Thatcher and Keahi Roy.
Thatcher was good for 5-of-5 from deep through the first two periods as the sophomore from Butte, finished the night with 25 points and five assists. Roy had a career-high 24 points after hitting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 10-of-12 at the free-throw line.
Markaela Francis posted her tenth double double of the season with 14 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Antuanisha Wright had an additional 14 points.
The Skylights' Peyton Kehr had a team-high 14 points while Allix Goldhahn and Tiara Gilham each scored 12. Gilham had a team-high seven boards.
The Battlin' Bears shot 57.4 percent from the field. In comparison, the Skylights had a 42.4 field goal percentage while hitting 7-of-17 on threes.
Rocky held a 32-29 advantage on the glass including a 24-16 edge in defensive boards.
Rocky will next play Carroll College on Feb. 11 in Helena.
