(Editor's note: Rocky Mountain College media releases)
HAVRE -- The Rocky Mountain College men and Montana State-Northern women won Frontier Conference basketball games Saturday.
Rocky Mountain College men 90, Montana State-Northern 86 (OT)
A pair of 20-point performances by Rocky Mountain College's Clayton Ladine and Sam Vining helped vault the Battlin' Bears over the No. 17 ranked MSU-Northern Lights in overtime on Saturday night.
A close game from tip to buzzer, the game sat tied at 75-75 with just 30 seconds left on the clock in the second half. Vining put the Battlin' Bears up by two with 20 seconds left, but the Lights' Adam Huse sent the game into overtime with a pair of free throws in the final six seconds.
Landing five free throws late in overtime, the Battlin' Bears managed to outscore the nationally ranked Lights 13-9 in the extra period to clinch the victory.
Shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc, the Battlin' Bears hit 12-of-24 of their three point attempts and finished the night shooting 53.2 percent from the field. The Lights hit just 5-of-20 from deep and posted a 46.27 field goal percentage.
The Battlin' Bears won the battle for boards with a 35-29 edge in rebounds.
Ladine posted a 21-point performance with eight rebounds and six assists. Hitting 4-of-6 from deep, Vining finished the night with 20 points and eight rebounds. Kelson Eiselein scored 16 points while Grant Wallace had 10.
Led by Mascio McCadney's team-high 17 points, MSU-Northern had five players score in the double digits. Cedric Crutchfield had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Adam Huse scored eight points with seven assists.
The Battlin' Bears will next play crosstown rival MSU Billings on Dec. 13 in an exhibition game in Alterowitz Gym.
Montana State-Northern women 57, Rocky Mountain College 47
Fresh off an upset of No. 19 ranked Providence on Thursday, No. 25 ranked Rocky Mountain College was unable to pull off a similar story in a 57-47 loss to No. 14 ranked MSU-Northern on Saturday night.
Putting up a six point lead, their largest of the game, in the final minute of the first period, the Battlin' Bears were overtaken by the Skylights in the second period who entered halftime up 27-26 off an 11-4 run. Rocky was never able to put up enough points to recover and trailed MSU-Northern until the buzzer.
Destinee Pointer's 16 points made the junior the only double digit scorer for the Battlin' Bears on the night. Izzy Spruit drained 3-of-6 on three point attempts for nine points while Markaela Francis had a team-high eight rebounds.
The Skylights' Peyton Kehr had a team-high 14 points while Kenya Lorton had 10 points. Sydney Hovde's 13 rebounds and five assists led MSU-Northern in both categories.
The Battlin' Bears shot 33.3 percent from the field and from beyond the arc. The Skylights posted a 35.6 percent field goal percentage while hitting 7-of-17 on three pointers.
The Battlin' Bears will return to Billings, Mont., to play MSU Billings in an exhibition game on Dec. 12 in Alterowitz Gym.
