BILLINGS, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team returns to action this week with a pair of games. They will host crosstown rival, MSU Billings, in the Fortin Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in an exhibition contest. The Battlin' Bears will then travel to Pablo, Montana for a second meeting this season against Salish Kootenai College.
Wednesday's game against MSU Billings will be broadcast live on the Rocky You Tube page at YouTube.com/battlinbears. Live audio will also be available on MTSportsCast.com. Live stats for the game can be found at sidearmstats.com/rocky/mbball. There is no live coverage of Saturday's game. Links for all live features will be available on the day of the game by following @battlinbears on Facebook and Twitter.
Rocky heads into the second week of action at 2-0 on the season after a pair of home wins last week. They are averaging 120.5 points per game while shooting 58.6 percent from the floor. The team has made 24 threes on the year while hitting at 40.0 percent.
The Battlin' Bears average 55.5 rebounds and 30.5 assists per game. They are holding the opposition to 68.5 points per game and 37.8 percent shooting. Rocky has a 34.5 rebound margin and 1.794 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Austin Payne is averaging 25.0 points per game to lead the team. He shoots 75.9 percent from the field and is 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Payne has added eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. He was named the Frontier Conference Player of the Week on Monday.
Joe'l Towers got his collegiate career off to a fast start by averaging 18.0 points per game during the first week of the season. Towers scored 23 points and went 7 of 10 from 3-point land in the win over Salish Kootenai on Saturday. In two games, Towers has 10 made threes and is shooting 58.8 percent from deep.
Jared Samuelson is scoring 13.5 points per game while grabbing 13 rebounds. He is a perfect 9 of 9 at the foul line while contributing two steals and one blocked shot.
Satchel McDonald is the team's leading rebounder with 17. He had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the opener against Yellowstone Christian. McDonald has scored 21 points on the year and has five steals and four assists.
Colin May is Rocky's assist leader with 15 dimes in two games. He started the season with seven assists against YCC before notching eight against Salish Kootenai.
Wednesday's game against MSU Billings in the first of two exhibition game the Battlin' Bears will play against the Yellowjackets this season. Rocky has won four straight countable games in the series – all at home – and they lead 7-5 since the 2003-04 season.
Rocky will visit Salish Kootenai for the first time on Saturday. The Battlin' Bears are 2-0 all-time against the Bison, including last week's 118-69 decision in the Fortin Center.
