BILLINGS, Mont. – With eight assists on the night, junior Damek Mitchell made Warrior Men's Basketball history. The guard set the single-season assists record with 195, after setting the previous record last season with 193. His efforts helped lead the No. 7 Warriors to a comeback victory over Rocky Mountain College on the road, securing the Frontier Conference regular-season title for the ninth time, and fifth in the last eight seasons. The Warriors also clinched home-court advantage throughout the Frontier Conference Tournament.
 
The victory was hard-fought, with the Warriors trailing by as much as 10 in the second half.
 
"That was an extremely gutsy win by our guys," coach Austin Johnson said. "After a 12.5-hour bus ride yesterday it took us a bit to find our defensive energy, but the guys turned it on in the second half. We limited their looks down the stretch and held them to 0-for-9 from 3 in the second half which was huge.
 
"Travis was awesome tonight and we got timely buckets and stops from every guy that played," Johnson said. "We got better as the game went on."
 
After the Battlin's Bears opened the scoring, Josiah Westbrook hit a fade-away jumper to even the score. A 3-pointer by Damek Mitchell put the Warriors in front 5-2 at 18:25, and a bucket by Travis Yenor on an assist from Mitchell pushed the advantage to 7-4. Westbrook hit a 3 at 16:31, and Trystan Bradley put back an offensive rebound to keep the momentum going for LC State.
 
The Battlin' Bears cut the Warrior lead to one (14-13) six minutes in, and jumped in front by one at 13:26. The Warriors kept it close, and a big 3 by Mitchell gave LC State a 23-22 lead. Rocky answered with eight-straight to regain the advantage, before Mitchell drained a 3 at 7:07 to end the run. Yenor drained a 3-pointer at 5:56 to bring the score to 33-29.
 
Rocky continued to add on, growing its lead to 10 points before a 3 by Westbrook got LC State back in the game at 2:10. The Battlin' Bears led 47-39 at the half.
 
Westbrook hit a 3 from the top of the key a minute in, then made good on a free throw to pull LC State within six. Hodges Bailey made it 51-45 four minutes in and Yenor made it a four-point game at 16:30. Yenor struck again with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one, and Khalil Stevenson put the Warriors back in front 52-51. Another 3 from Yenor pushed the lead to 55-51 as the offense kicked things into high gear.
 
Mitchell beat the shot clock at 12:16 with a triple, growing the Warrior advantage to 62-56. Bradley threw down a dunk at 9:02 to make it 66-60, and by 6:52 LC State led 73-66.
 
RMC went on a 6-1 run to pull within a basket at 74-72, but a 3-pointer by Mitchell pushed the lead back out to five at 77-72 with 3:45 to play. The Bears pulled within one, but a bucket by Bradley kept LC State in front by a slim margin in the final minute. LC State hung on to win 85-81.
 
Yenor led the Warriors with 29 points on the night, and Bradley grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds. Mitchell's record-setting night gives him 195 on the season, and with 15 points tonight he is two short of 1,000. Mitchell and Yenor each hit five 3-pointers. Westbrook added 19 points, including four 3s, and a career-high eight assists.
 
As a team, the Warriors hit 15 3-pointers (15-for-38) and shot 46.4 percent from the field.
 
"We undoubtedly have the toughest league schedule when factoring in miles traveled and back-to-back games, so it takes an incredible amount if mental and physical toughness to do what this group has done," Johnson explained. "We aren't satisfied and we know we can get better so that will be the focus moving forward. I am just so happy for these 10 guys and what they're doing together."
 
With home-court advantage clinched and the regular-season title under their belts, the Warrior swill wrap up the regular-season on Saturday at Montana Western at 6:30 p.m. PT.