BILLINGS, Mont. – Coming off a pair of dramatic, one-possession Great Northwest Athletic Conference games last week, the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team sets its sights on a pair of non-conference contests against Rocky Mountain College.
 
The Battlin' Bears (4-5, 0-2 Frontier Conference) will host the Yellowjackets (3-5) on Wednesday at 7 p.m., then the cross-town rivalry series ends in Alterowitz Gym this Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Both games will be livestreamed on the host teams' respective sites, plus Saturday's game will televised live on SWX.
 
"We don't really have a rival in our league, but Rocky is our rival and we know we're going to get their best shot," MSUB head coach Mick Durham said. "Playing at their place first will be interesting. I like how [Rocky] is competing and playing. They're still learning too, but they've got some good quickness on the perimeter and a good inside presence in Maxim Stephens. They're really balanced inside-out."
 
Unlike the majority of MSUB's opponents so far, Rocky Mountain is more of a known commodity. MSUB played its second and final scrimmage of the curtailed 2020-21 season at the Fortin Center, and the Yellowjackets came away with a 73-56 win.
 
After this week's pair of Rocky Mountain games, MSUB will conclude its non-conference schedule against West Texas A&M and Rollins College in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic, held in Las Vegas, Nev. from Dec. 17-18. Then the 'Jackets resume GNAC play up north, as they'll take on Alaska and Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 30 and Jan. 1, 2022, respectively.
 
The next home game for the 'Jackets will be on Thursday, Jan. 6 against Western Oregon – only GNAC team with a 2-0 record.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK
Few teams had a more dramatic opening weekend of GNAC play than the 'Jackets, whose two games were decided by a total of three points.
 
In last Thursday's GNAC opener against Northwest Nazarene, the 'Jackets battled back from a 12-point deficit, held the Nighthawks to 1-for-17 shooting from beyond the arc in the second half and sent the game to overtime on senior guard Damen Thacker's coast-to-coast layup with five seconds remaining. Thacker, who finished with a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double, was the hero on offense late in the game, yet MSUB and its stingy team defense made enough plays late in regulation and in overtime to give the 'Jackets a chance.
 
"Giving ourselves a chance to win at the end of both games and getting the split was good," Durham said of last week's games. "I liked how we competed, and I like how we bounced back from Thursday to Saturday. There were a lot of positives."
 
"The way it shook out here for us and how the GNAC shook out for the week made me pretty pleased to split a pair of games against two teams that played last year," Durham added.
 
But the second game of the week was even more dramatic than the first.
 
Playing against a Central Washington team that had upset Seattle Pacific – the preseason pick to win the GNAC – MSUB led for most of the second half, put the clamps down on the Wildcats' freewheeling offense and won on Malik Brikat's put-back layup with 0.7 seconds remaining.
 
"Obviously, we defended and rebounded," Durham said. "We're still a work-in-progress on offense. And we had some guys step up: we fought through sickness and injury in both games in both nights and we had some guys step up."
 
Offensively, Thacker – who scored 14 of his 26 points in the first half – and Carrington Wiggins (20 points, 11 rebounds) combined for 46 of the 'Jackets points, solidifying themselves as one of the GNAC's best scoring duos. Yet MSUB's team defense in the second-half was the difference-maker: CWU shot only 33.3% in the second half compared to MSUB's 63.6% clip from the field.
 
"Our transition defense was the best it's been all year," Durham said of Saturday's game. "We made Central Washington earn their points; we didn't give them a lot of transition layups that we couldn't guard."
 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN' BEARS
Record: 4-5 (0-2, Frontier Conference)
Head coach: Bill Dreikosen (22^nd year)
Head-to-head record: 90-81
Last meeting: Feb. 10, 2021 (73-56, MSUB)
 
The Battlin' Bears come into the series fresh off a two-game losing streak against Frontier Conference opponents last week: first with a 86-78 road loss to Providence, then with a 76-68 home defeat at the hands of Montana Tech. Prior to that, Rocky had a successful stint in the Dickinson State University's Sam Milanovich Classic by going 2-0 against Dakota Wesleyan and the hosting Dickinson State Blue Hawks.
 
Rocky is one of the NAIA's most prolific shooting teams, hoisting an average of 68.3 shots per game, which ranks 18^th amongst all NAIA teams. So far, the Battlin' Bears have relied on stretch forward Maxim Stephens (14.1 points, 8.3 rebounds per game) and guards Abdul Bah (13.3 points per game) and Tayshawn Bradford (11.0 points per game).
 
Although Rocky also lost some of its main scorers from the teams' meeting earlier this spring, they have reloaded with Montana State transfer and Billings West graduate Jesse Owens, Abdul Bah out of East Los Angeles College – a junior college most known for its appearance on the latest season of Netflix's Last Chance U series – and Australian Kael Robinson.
 
"They added three quality guys in Jesse Owens, Abdul Bah and Kael Robinson – who is going to be a good player," Durham said. "[Robinson] is a long, 6'6" wing who can score."
 
Robinson brings more depth and size playing alongside the aforementioned Stephens and Montanan Beau Santistevan (7.6 points, 7.2 rebounds per game) – the latter of whom helped Bigfork High School win back-to-back Class B state titles while playing alongside MSUB guard Anders Epperly in 2018-19. Rocky's frontcourt does have the green light to step out and shoot threes, as the Battlin' Bears tend to play with at least four players out on the perimeter.
 
"Both of their bigs like to slide out to the perimeter, but I think Stephens is dangerous in the low post and from three," Durham said. "He's a hard player to guard."
 
STAT CORNER

• Between Carrington Wiggins (17.0 points per game, 5^th GNAC) and Damen Thacker (15.0 points per game, T-8^th GNAC), MSUB is one of two teams with multiple players in the GNAC's top-10 scoring rankings. Alaska Anchorage has three of the GNAC's top-10 leading scorers.
• Additionally, Wiggins ranks 71^st in the nation with 31 made free throws, whereas Thacker ranks 96^th with 29. Thacker's 87.9% clip from the free-throw line is also ranks first amongst all GNAC players and 48^th in Division II.
• Opponents have averaged 69.0 points per game against MSUB's defense – which is the third-best mark in the league.
• MSUB ranks second in the conference with 79 steals at 8.1 per game; both marks also rank 50^th and 68^th amongst all Division II teams.

 
UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets travel across town to play at Rocky Mountain College this Wednesday at 7 p.m, before hosting the Battlin' Bears this Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Livestream and live stat links for both games can be found on the men's schedule page at msubsports.com. Saturday's game will also be televised on SWX.