Just about.
Little Big Horn College's women's team made two tries at crossing Montana but turned back each time, canceling half of SKC's doubleheader at the Ronan Events Center.
Then, a winter snowstorm and icy roads kept many other fans away from the men's game. Even Monte, the University of Montana mascot, missed all of the warm-ups and most of the first half before appearing.
Finally, the Little Big Horn men's team did all it could to spoil it completely.
A night after losing to SKC 143-78 - that's right, 143-78 - the Rams hung around for some 35 minutes before SKC secured a 108-98 victory.
It was their fourth straight win over Little Big Horn in less than a month. Salish Kootenai College averaged more than 120 points in the four games, including two played on the Crow Indian Reservation in January.
“They came to play today,” Bison coach Zach Camel said of the Rams. “There was no long bus ride for them today and their legs weren't tight.”
Howard Walker of Polson scored 23 points to lead SKC, a school unaffiliated with any conference but which is considering applying to join the Frontier Conference in a few years.
Delbert Trombley of Browning added 20 more, but, as is typical of the Bison, no player stopped by the scorer's table to see what his totals were. And their coach wasn't even sure what their record improved to.
“I just know we're on a pace to win 20 games again, and that's what's important to me,” said Camel, whose team is the two-time defending national champion of the season-ending American Indian Higher Education Consortium tournament.
While the game drew a few hundred fans, SKC was hoping to fill more seats. Some people may have shown up for the women's game, found the signs on the doors explaining Little Big Horn had canceled, gone home and never ventured out into the weather again. Still more may have decided against it altogether because of the slick roads.
But University of Montana player Mike Chavez made the trip from Missoula after the Grizzlies got done practicing Monday to watch friends and relatives on both teams.
“It's a lot of fun to watch,” Chavez said after Monte made his entrance and immediately doused Chavez with Silly String. “It's up-and-down, a lot of offense. It's tough to set up a ‘D' when you're playing straight run-and-gun.”
Told the Bison had rung up 143 points in the college-regulation game the night before, Chavez said, “That's amazing. You're not going to find that score in Division I.”
Cameron McCormick of Hardin, who led Little Big Horn with 23 points, is Chavez's cousin, and Chavez's mother is half-sister to the father of Elvis Old Bull Jr., who had 15 points for the Rams.
Even Chavez's girlfriend, Savannah Sinquah of Pryor, had a cousin on the Little Big Horn squad: Andy Roundface, who had 12 points.
“A lot of guys get raised on different reservations,” said Chavez, who said he's friends with SKC's Trombley and Ed Running Rabbit as well. “There's a lot of back-and-forth.”
A night after Running Rabbit scored 27 points and Walker and Pius Takes Horse added 24 each in the 65-point victory over the Rams - a game SKC led 74-48 at the half - Little Big Horn trailed just 45-44 at halftime Monday.
The Bison used an 11-0 run to start the second half to put some distance between them, but Little Big Horn trailed just 82-76 with 7 1/2 minutes left, and it wasn't until the last 5 1/2 minutes that Salish Kootenai College opened up and maintained a double-digit lead.
While SKC plays most of its games on the road, it's in the middle of a homestand right now. Northwest Indian College of Bellingham, Wash., visits Ronan on Feb. 21-22 for women's and men's doubleheaders. On Feb. 21, the women play at 6 p.m. and the men at 8. On Feb. 22, the women start at 4 p.m. and the men at 6.
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