Lindsey Branch, UMW Sports Information Photo Credit Terri Haverfield
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana Western men's basketball team (12-11, 5-5) defeated Rocky Mountain College (11-12, 2-8) for the second time this season in a road 78-72 victory.
Tonight's win featured a career-high of 22 points for Michael Haverfield and marks the first win in Billings for the Bulldogs in two seasons.
How It Happened
The Bulldogs held their ground early in the game, taking an 11-6 lead in the first four minutes of the matchup. The Bulldogs then pushed their lead behind six from Kayden Toldson early. They would narrowly outscore Rocky by five across the next six minutes of play.
Up 26-21 with eight minutes to go in the first half, Rocky flipped the lead and regained much needed momentum behind Elliott Brooks' six points. They continued on their own 13-2 scoring run to take a 34-28 lead into the final five minutes of the half.
Christian Pitcher knocked down a jumper and the Bulldogs held Rocky to just a pair down the stretch. Pitcher continued on as he hit a triple with 48 seconds until half and the Bulldogs led 40-36 heading into the break.
With Rocky taking a narrow scoring edge right at the start of the second half, the Bulldogs found their stride and took a 9-0 run to a 54-44 lead.
Despite Rocky's offense gaining a spark from a pair of threes from Kael Robinson and Jesse Owens, Haverfield answered quickly to get the Bulldogs back on track. He would score eight points for UMW across the next two minutes.
Rocky was never able to gain enough momentum to overcome the Bulldog lead and Western took the win by a final score of 78-72.
Notables
The Bulldogs held Rocky Mountain to a 38.8 shooting percentage, a mark that is much lower than their season average of 44.1 percent.
Western outrebounded Rocky Mountain, totaling a season high of 45 team rebounds in the game.
As a team, Montana Western totaled just seven turnovers in the game. In contrast, UMW forced 11 Rocky turnovers and put up 12 points off of turnovers.
Michael Haverfield led the way with a career high of 22 points and four rebounds. He hit five of ten threes and went seven of 13 from the field.
Quincy Taylor recorded a season-high of 11 rebounds in tonight's game. He also added six points and four assists.
Up Next
Montana Western moves to 5-5 in conference play and will be back on the road for a game against Carroll College on Saturday Feb. 10. Tip-off is at 4pm MT.
