(RMC Athletics release)
HELENA – Jared Samuelson scored 23 points to lead the Rocky Mountain College men’s basketball team to a 59-54 upset at No. 2 Carroll on Tuesday night in Frontier Conference play.
Rocky (10-6, 2-3 Frontier) trailed 43-41 with 10:53 to play in the second half, but took the game over with a 13-1 run over the next eight-plus minutes to build a 10-point cushion with 2:23 remaining. The Battlin’ Bears forced six straight misses by Carroll (15-2, 3-2) during the decisive run.
Samuelson led Rocky in scoring for the seventh straight game with his seventh 20-point outing of the season. He was 8 of 13 from the floor while also leading the team with 11 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Rocky shot 50 percent in the second half to finish the game at 40.7 percent. They held Carroll to 30.7 percent shooting – nearly 27 points below their NAIA-leading season rate. The Battlin’ Bears scored 34 points in the paint and got eight points from 17 forced turnovers.
Satchel McDonald added 12 points, four rebounds and three steals for Rocky. Craig Wilmore finished with nine points and two blocked shots.
Rocky got 12 points from its bench while holding Carroll’s bench scoreless.
Ryan Imhoff led Carroll with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
The Battlin’ Bears now head home where they will host Montana Tech on Saturday in the Fortin Education Center. The final home game of the month for Rocky will tipoff at 7:30 p.m.
