KANSAS CITY, Mo. - [Bracket | Watch On-Demand | Box Score] Rocky Mountain (Mont.) used an 11-0 overtime run to create separation and hold off Frontier Conference rival Bellevue (Neb.), 78-73, in a Round of 16 game at the 88th annual NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Friday night at Municipal Auditorium.

Rocky Mountain (31-3) - which beat Bellevue all three times the teams met this season - will now face Langston (Okla.) (27-7) in the quarterfinals Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. CT. Langston rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to edge past Oklahoma Wesleyan, 56-55, in a Round of 16 game earlier Friday night.

Bellevue led the Battlin' Bears, 63-61, with 18.6 seconds to go in regulation, but Rocky Mountain got a layup from Royce Robinson with 5.7 seconds left to tie the game at 63 and force overtime. In the extra period, Bellevue got a 3-pointer by Jaden Phillips to go up 66-63 with 4:07 remaining, but Rocky Mountain scored the next 11 points to build a 74-66 lead with 51 seconds left. The Bruins didn't go quietly, though, as they got to within three points twice, the final time coming at 76-73 after a Jermaine Haliburton layup with 11 seconds to go, but Rocky Mountain made a pair of free throws with a defensive stop sandwiched in the middle to salt away the win and move on to the quarterfinals.

Rocky Mountain - making its first Round of 16 appearance since 2009 and its first National Tournament appearance since 2019 - led for most of the first half, building as much as an eight-point lead at 27-19 with 4:28 to go before halftime. Bellevue got to within 27-24 on a 3-pointer by Connor Mohr with 2:02 left, but the Battlin' Bears still took a 33-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Omari Nesbit led Rocky Mountain with 11 points, Carter McCoy added eight points and three rebounds, and Robinson had seven points and three rebounds for the Battlin' Bears. Meanwhile, Haliburton was the high scorer for Bellevue with seven points, and J.J. Montgomery tossed in five for the Bruins in the opening half.

In the second half, Rocky Mountain built a 12-point advantage at 48-36 with 12:39 to go in regulation before Bellevue (24-8) got itself back in the game with a 7-0 burst of its own. The rest of regulation was nip and tuck, with neither team leading by more than three points over the final 5:53.

Robinson led all scorers with 24 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. McCoy finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Nesbit had 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists for the Battlin' Bears, who are now 9-1 in neutral site games this season. Haliburton was the high scorer for Bellevue with 21 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals. R.J. Smith had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Montgomery netted 13 points for the Bruins in the loss.