March 20, 2026

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Frontier Conference will have a team in the 88^th annual NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament’s quarterfinals, as the top two teams in the league battle out on Friday’s Round of 16 game at the Municipal Auditorium.

Both teams are placed in the Liston Quadrant of the national tournament, with No. 2 seed Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (30-3 overall record) carrying their 20-game winning streak before Friday’s game.  The Battlin’ Bears swept both the Frontier Conference regular-season outright and tournament titles.

RMC hosted their first ever NAIA Men’s Basketball First and Second Round last weekend, defeating No. 15 seed Simpson (Calif.) 94-59 and held off No. 10 seed The Master’s (Calif.) 66-65.

Bellevue, No. 14 seed in the Liston Quadrant and lowest seed reamining in the national tournament, is 24-7 overall record after a pair of victories in the Huntington (Ind.) pod.  The Bruins knocked off No. 3 seed and host team Huntington 62-58, followed by a come-from-behind victory over No. 6 seed Graceland (Iowa) 95-88.

Rocky Mountain and Bellevue will play in the last NAIA’s Round of 16 game Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. (Central Time)/6:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).  The winner of this game will move on to the national quarterfinal game on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (CT)/6:30 p.m. (MT) between No. 1 seed Oklahoma Wesleyan (30-3 overall record) and No. 4 seed Langston (Okla.) (26-7 overall record).

The Battlin’ Bears swept the season series with the Bruins during the regular season, with both contests decided by three and four points.  RMC won the first meeting 71-68 in Billings, Mont., and held off BU for a 73-69 win in Bellevue, Neb..