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BILLINGS, Mont. -- In what came out to be a 26-for-82 night of shooting, the Montana State Billings men's basketball squad dropped a 71-66 non-conference matchup with Rocky Mountain College in front of a large home crowd Saturday night at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
“The bottom line is I did not have our team ready to play tonight,” said head coach Jamie Stevens. “Coach Wetzel gave our team a great scout and we felt really good about our knowledge of what our opponent was going to do tonight. Unfortunately, we just didn't take care of business on our end. Give the credit to Rocky, they played better and made shots. We missed layups, open 3's, post-up opportunities and free throws that we have made for the most part all year. Our guys seemed very tired tonight, as well. All of those things come back to me. I just didn't have us prepared to play well and win tonight.”
 
RMC was led by a team-high 18 points by Nile Finney who also had six boards on the evening. In his first game with the Bears, Doundrekyc Parham recorded a triple-double with 12 points, 10 boards and 10 assists. John Bayo and Matt Fogarty were also in double figures for the Rocky, scoring 10 points each.
 
MSUB (5-4) struggled from the field as Jaxon Myaer had a game-high 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting, while Antoine Proctor had 17 points on 6 of 24 shooting. Robert Mayes had a game-high 11 rebounds to go with his six points and David Arnold scored eight points on the evening.
 
The Jackets couldn't find their range from deep either as they went 6 of 31 (19.4%) from beyond the arc and were just 1 of 15 (6.7%) in the second half. MSUB did get to the line 12 times during the night, converting eight attempts.
 
The Yellowjackets were out rebounded 49-47 and were outscored in the paint 34-26, but posted big numbers in turning 18 RMC turnovers into 30 points and outscoring the Rocky bench 22-16.
 
Rocky started the game on a 14-3 run over the first six minutes that quieted the over 1,300 fans in attendance at the game. Then the Jackets stormed back with a 16-0 run of their own when Arnold hit a three-pointer at the 13:08 mark and was capped by a Myaer jumper at 9:24.
 
The contest continued to go back and forth as MSUB established a three point lead, 35-32, when Proctor sliced through the lane and got a layup to fall, connecting on the plus one afterwards, but the Bears answered with four straight points to take a 36-35 lead into the break.
 
As the second half got back underway Rocky again established the tone as they built up a nine point lead at 48-39 when Sergio Trocha connected on a free throw with 14:27 remaining in the contest.
 
MSUB would battle back again, eventually tying the game for the sixth time at 59-59 on a pair of free throws by Preston Richards who scored six points during the night.
 
The Jackets would actually hold a one point, 66-65, lead after Proctor hit a running jumper with just 1:19 to go. Unfortunately, that was the last field goal of the night for MSUB as Rocky got the go-ahead basket from Parham at 1:10 and got another bucket from Parham and a pair of free throws by Finney to seal the victory for the second consecutive year inside Alterowitz.
 
The Yellowjackets will stay outside the conference as they step back on their home floor next Friday night at 7 p.m. when they take on Dickinson State. Friday's contest will be the final non-conference game of the season as they Jackets return to conference action after the Christmas break.