Rocky Mountain College’s Frontier Conference-opening victory against Montana Western Thursday night was another exciting one for the history books.

Senior point guard Nate Richardson was his usual driving force, scoring a season-high 29 points, as the Battlin’ Bears grinded out an 84-78 triumph, keeping the always-pesky Bulldogs winless in the Fortin Center since 2002.

It was quite a tussle, as usual. Rocky led by as many as 18 points early in the second half at 51-33, but hot-shooting Western was back within four, 78-74, heading into the game’s closing minute.

Anthony Allen, EJ Ross and Kale Eike connected on two free throws apiece in the final 1:06 to help the Bears beat the Bulldogs for the ninth straight year in Billings.

“It’s always a shootout,” said Richardson, who collected 19 of his points in the second half. “No one team is ever out of it. You can be up by 20, and that lead can go away just as fast as it got built up.”

That was definitely the case once again as points came in bunches behind a flurry of 3-pointers, hard drives down the lane, powerful moves underneath the basket and tight-checking pressure defense.

“I thought our effort was one of the best efforts of the year,” said Rocky coach Bill Dreikosen, who was celebrating his 39th birthday. “We’re just continuing to come with more and more energy and confidence and playing together.

“We’re playing more instinctively and we’re playing much harder.”

Richardson was one of four Rocky starters who scored in double figures. Allen added 21 points, Ross 18 and Orlandor Westbrooks 10.

The last time Western won at Rocky was on Jan. 4, 2001 when the Bulldogs buried 16 3-pointers in a 96-88 victory.

This time around, burly center JaRon Brown tallied 25 points inside for the Bulldogs, 19 in the second half. Terry Hauser added 17 points with five 3-pointers.

The women’s game was similar to the men’s, with Rocky building a 17-point cushion in the second half and hanging on to beat Western 66-63.

Molly Schenderline had 21 points for the Bears, with teammate Tana Stewart close behind with 16.

“It was a good team win,” Schenderline said. “Everybody did their part.”

Western received 15 points from Nicole Tams. Kristen Luedtke and Jamie Lake chipped in with 13 apiece.

Rocky’s men and women will remain at home on Saturday night to entertain Montana Tech.

Rocky men 84, UM-Western 78

Rocky won its third straight game to improve to 6-10 overall. Western fell to 12-5.

The 5-6 Richardson put on another impressive show for the national champs, darting and dashing to the basket and drilling 3-pointers when the Bears absolutely needed them the most.

He hit six of nine 3-point attempts. In showing a lot of determination, he also drove fearlessly to the basket against much larger foes for several clutch layups.

“That’s how I’ve been playing my whole life,” Richardson said. “I’ve been the littlest one on the court. I just have that urge, that determination, to go in there and go strong. That’s what I know.”

His driving and 3-point shooting were part of a 15-0 run covering the final minute of the first half and the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half to put Rocky up 51-33.

Later on, Western’s Hauser nailed three consecutive 3-pointers to get the Bulldogs within 75-71 at the 2:52 mark.

However, Richardson also responded with two treys of his own, along with one by Ross, to help the Bears maintain their lead.

“That was fun and exciting,” Richardson said afterward. “It was a battle between two very good teams.”

The 6-8 Allen finished with 21 points and seven rebounds for the Bears despite foul problems. In the first half, he scored off three straight possessions on a 3-pointer, dunk and offensive rebound.

Western shot 53 percent in the second half, compared to 52 percent for Rocky. The Bears had 14 3-pointers on the night, twice as many as the Bulldogs.

“I told our guys ‘that whether you have a big lead or not, they’re not going to give in,’ ” Dreikosen said of Western. “They’re a very good basketball team. I had that talk with our guys before the game.

“I said, ‘Hey, you have to keep the hammer down.’”

Rocky women 66, UM-Western 63

Rocky, 3-11 overall, used a 23-6 spurt spanning the first and second halves to lead 52-35 with 12:16 to play.

Stewart drilled three 3-pointers during that uprising, while Schenderline scored a couple of baskets inside and also knocked down a 3-pointer.

Western, 4-10, rallied in the last 10 minutes to get within 63-61 on a layup by Tams with 2:48 to go.

But the Bears stayed in front on free throws by Shannon Hildreth and Aynslee Stuart.

Trailing 66-63, the Bulldogs still had a chance for the tying shot as time was winding down, but Rocky’s Kalli McCloskey deflected a pass into the hands of Schenderline to help secure the victory.

“It’s great to come through and hang on and get the win,” Rocky coach Brian Henderson said. “Those are things we need to do to progress as a team. We’ve been so close in so many games.

“It’s good to see us close one out.”

The contest was tied 10 times in the first half. Rocky scored the last six points to lead 35-29 at intermission.

Rocky also tallied the first seven points of the second half on a 3-pointer by Stewart and two driving baskets by Hildreth.