BILLINGS, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team will play two of its four straight games on the road this weekend, both at ranked opponents. The Battlin' Bears visit No. 8 Lewis-Clark State on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. MT in Lewiston, Idaho. They will then play at No. 16 Montana Western on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Dillon, Mont.
Live video and stats will be available for both games this week. Visit
GoBattlinBears.com/live to find links for all live features.
Rocky enters the road swing at 11-6 overall and they have won two straight games for the first time since late November. The Battlin' Bears are 3-3 in Frontier Conference action. That has them tied for fourth in the standings, just two games behind the lead. Rocky is 5-2 on the road this season, but just 1-2 in road conference games.
The Battlin' Bears are coming off a 2-0 week that included a 59-54 win at then-No. 2 Carroll on January 9. They also rallied in the second half to secure a 65-55 home win over Montana Tech last Saturday.
Jared Samuelson was named the Frontier Conference Plyer of the Week after he averaged 19 points, 9.5 rebounds and two assists in the two wins.
Rocky is averaging 86.5 points per game this season and they shoot 47.2 percent from the field. The team make 8.24 threes per outing while shooting 35.6 percent from deep. They are third in the Frontier by making 73.4 percent at the foul line. Rocky gets 42.24 rebounds per game and they are averaging 17.88 assists per game.
Defensively, the Battlin' Bears are allowing 72.9 points per game and opponents are shooting 41.3 percent. Rocky has a 7.2 rebounding margin and they are 13th in the NAIA by posting 4.0 blocked shots per game.
Samuelson is second in the Frontier and 17th in the NAIA by scoring 19.6 points per game. He shoots 56.5 percent from the field and ranks 11th in the nation by hitting 87.0 percent at the foul line. Samuelson has scored in double figures 14 times – including 11 straight – and he has seven games with at least 20 points.
Austin Payne is second on the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game. He has scored in double figures 10 times and shoots 53.1 percent to rank 45th in the NAIA. Payne has 26 made 3-pointers on the year and has hit a three in 14 consecutive games.
Latrelle Franklin scores 11.9 points per game with 10 games in double digits. He is sixth in the NAIA with 86 total assists and at 5.06 assists per game. Franklin also ranks 29th nationally with 30 total steals and his 1.77 steals per game is 36th in the country.
Collin May has a 3.11 assist-to-turnover ratio to tank 14th in the NAIA.
