(RMC Athletics release)
HELENA – The Rocky Mountain College men’s basketball team gave No. 6 Carroll a fight on Friday night, but the home team had just enough down the stretch to pick up a 79-67 win in the semifinals of the Frontier Conference Tournament.
Rocky – the tournament’s No. 5 seed – had the game tied at 18-18 with 6:42 to play before halftime before No. 1-seed Carroll (26-5) went on an 11-2 run to help them take a 35-26 lead into intermission.
Carroll would maintain the lead for the entire second half despite several attempts at a comeback from the Battlin’ Bears. It was a 62-59 game with 3:23 remaining when Craig Wilmore scored in the paint. Carroll answered with 11 of the game’s next 13 points to end the Rocky season.
Wilmore gave Rocky a solid night at the offensive end with 21 points behind a 5 of 6 night from beyond the arc. He also led the team with nine rebounds and added three assists.
Rocky shot 48.2 percent from the floor and went 8 of 25 from three. Carroll ended the night shooting 51.8 percent overall while adding 17 points from 18 Rocky turnovers.
Satchel McDonald added 13 points and four assists for Rocky. Jared Sameulson had 10 points and four steals.
Ryan Imhoff led four Saints in double figures with 18 points.
Rocky ends its season at 18-14 overall. They advanced to the semifinals of the counference tournament for the fifth time in the past six seasons.
