BILLINGS, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team enters the final weekend of the regular season with two home games on tap. Rocky welcomes No. 10 Montana Western to town on Thursday before facing No. 19 Lewis-Clark State on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Fortin Education Center.
Thursday night is Military Appreciation Night in the Fortin Center, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain College's Student Veterans Club. The Battlin' Bears will wear special jerseys that include the name of an RMC player and an honored fallen military member. Rocky will then honor its senior class during a presentation on Saturday.
Both games will have live video and live stats available. Links to the live features can be accessed at GoBattlinBears.com/live.
With two games to play, Rocky sits in fourth place in the Frontier Conference standings with an 8-8 record. They can still finish anywhere from third to fifth when the weekend is complete. If they can finish in the top-four, the Battlin' Bears would host a quarterfinal game in the Frontier Conference Tournament on February 27.
Rocky currently sits with a 17-11 overall record as they look for the first 20-win season since the 2014-15 campaign. The team has guaranteed its sixth straight season with a winning record. They have gone 8-3 at home this season.
The Battlin' Bears are currently scoring 81.54 points per game to rank fourth in the Frontier. The team shoots 47.2 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from beyond the arc. Rocky makes 7.61 threes per game while getting 17.29 assists per game. The team is sixth in the NAIA with 484 total assists and eighth with a 1.34 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Rocky opponents average 72.36 points per game and shoot 43.4 percent from the floor. Rocky is second in the Frontier by collecting 39.71 rebounds per game. The team averages 8.25 steals and 3.18 blocked shots per contest. Their 231 total steals ranks 14th in the country.
Jared Samuelson leads Rocky and is second in the Frontier in scoring at 18.56 points per game. That average is 28th in the NAIA while his 501 total points rank 21st. Samuelson is 21st in the nation by shooting 55.7 percent from the floor and 26th at 83.7 percent at the foul line.
Austin Payne is second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game. He has scored in double figures 12 times and has three games with at least 20 points. Payne shoots 49.6 percent and has 39 made 3-pointers at a 37.9 percent clip.
Chad Kananen averages 9.0 points per game and ranks fifth in the Frontier by making 2.36 threes per game. He shoots 40.2 percent from beyond the arc to account for 66 made triples that rank 41st in the country. He also ranks 47th in the NAIA with a 2.15 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Latrelle Franklin leads the teams and ranks 13th in the NAIA with 118 total assists. His 4.37 assists per game are 20th in the nation. He sits 16th nationally with 49 steals and 23rd at 1.82 steals per game.
