ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team had its six-game winning streak to start the season snapped with a 94-87 loss to No. 3 William Penn on Saturday at the Isreal-Strong Memorial Classic.
 
Rocky (6-1) never led in the game and trailed by 12 less than 10 minutes into the contest. The Battlin' Bears would chip away and had the game tied at 61-61 at 13:26 of the second half. William Penn (10-0) put the game out of reach with a 14-2 run during a six-minute span in the late stages of the second half.
 
Jared Samuelson led Rocky with a season-high 23 points on 10 of 17 shooting. He also tied for the team lead with eight rebounds while adding two assists and one steal.
 
The Battlin' Bears shot 43.6 percent and hit 13 of 28 from beyond the arc. Each team grabbed 36 rebounds and Rocky had 14 assists and 14 turnovers.
 
William Penn finished at 55.4 percent shooting after making 67.9 percent in the first half. He NAIA leader in scoring offense, was 8 of 20 from three and committed 17 turnovers. This is only the second time this season they have been held below 100 points.
 
Latrelle Franklin contributed 16 points, seven assists and four steals for the Battlin' Bears. He hit three from beyond the arc and pulled five rebounds. Austin Payne added 15 points off the bench.
 
Dominique Shaw scored a game-high 30 points to lead three William Penn players in double figures.
 
Rocky will open Frontier Conference play next weekend with a pair of road games. They visit MSU-Northern on Friday at 8 p.m. in Havre.