MCC Men's basketball game at MSU-Bottineau will be on the internet beginning at 7 p.m. Go back to the Radio Montana Sports front page to get details as to how to listen.

Tonight, the Miles Community College men's basketball team wants to get its first win in Mon-Dak Conference play. Playing their third road game in the conference, the Pioneers will take on an improving Minot State-Bottineau squad.

The Lumberjacks (7-5 overall, 1-1 Mon-Dak) average 92.5 points per game, while allowing about 84 points a contest. Four players are averaging in double figures in scoring -- Stephen Jones (19.3 points per game), David Bell (16.7), Derrick Chase (15.7) and Matt Lentz (14.6).

The Pioneers (7-3 overall, 0-2 Mon-Dak) score 75 a game and allow 67 points a contest. MCC is led by freshman forward Greg Hire, who leads the team in scoring (15.4) and rebounding (11.2 per game), while sophomore point guard Aaron Sutton (14 points, 3.3 assists per game) and freshman guard Jake Rios (15.3 ppg, 2.6 apg) also had played well this season.

In their only prior meeting this season, the Pioneers jumped out to a 22-point halftime lead, led at 72-37 at one point and rolled to an 85-61 win. Greg Hire had 29 points for the Pioneers in that win, which opened the Mon-Dak Preseason Tournament for both teams.

Stiff competition ... MCC Pioneer men plan to be

Pioneers prepare for Mon-Dak season

Right now, Miles Community College men's basketball is trying to get all of the kinks worked out.

The start of the 2006-07 season has gone well for the Pioneers, who are off to a 6-1 start, and will look to make that even better on Saturday, when they play Montana Tech's JV at the Kiwians Thanksgiving Classic at Dawson Community College.

But the lone loss on the schedule -- a double-digit setback to Lake Region State College in the Mon-Dak Preseason Tournament championship game -- showed the kinks in the Pioneer armor, primarily rebounding.

In two of the three Mon-Dak tournament games, the Pioneers were outrebounded. The deficiency on the glass allowed Williston State to rally back in their game, and allowed Lake Region to pull away in the title game.

"We have to do a better job rebounding," said Pioneer head coach Shawn Neary. "We can't let opponents beat us, especially on the offensive end. We have to do a better job of boxing out."

If this past weekend's numbers are any indication, the first step in the process has gone extremely well.

During the Bank of Colorado Shootout at Northeastern Junior College, the Pioneers won the battle of the boards in their wins over Southeast Nebraska (91-54) and Northeast Nebraska (69-51).