HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College survived a late comeback bid to defeat Westminster 57-55 Saturday evening at the PE Center.
 
After Westminster opened the scoring with a jumper by Jordan Pryor, Carroll went on a 10-0 run to establish an early lead.  They would extend that advantage to 17-5 on a Jake Hollifield bucket with 13:16 left in the first half.
 
The Griffins chipped away at the Carroll advantage and tied the game at 29 with just over two minutes left in the first half. The Saints took a 33-31 lead into the break, led by Ryan Imhoffs 10 first-half points.
 
Early in the second half it was all Westminster. The Griffins tied the game at 35 with 17:42 left in the game and built a five-point lead with 16:10 left before the Saints got back in the grove.
 
A quick 6-0 run gave the Saints the lead back and an 8-0 run gave Carroll a 51-43 lead with 8:27 left.
 
The Saints built the lead to nine points before the Griffins started cutting into the advantage.
 
The Griffins cut the lead to 56-55 with just eight seconds remaining on a contested 3-pointer by Kenny Woodward.
 
Zayn Kirkendoll was fouled and made one-of-two free throws. The Griffins had another shot, but this time Woodward's attempt missed and the Saints held on for the 57-55 win.
 
In the two matchups between these teams this season Carroll prevailed by just two points in each game, winning 67-65 in Salt Lake City. 
 
Three Saints scored in double figures. Oliver Carr led the way with 18 points, his fellow freshman Imhoff tallied a career-high 17 points and Frontier leading scorer Zach Taylor scored 13.
 
Carroll outrebounded Westminster 35-27, and shot an impressive 20-of-42 (47.6 percent) from the field. Carr was again efficient; he hit 7-of-8 and was 4-of-6 from the free throw line.
 
Carroll held Westminster 16 points below their season average and scored 12 second-chance points to Westminster's five.
 
"We had a lot of great contributions on the defensive end," Head coach Carson Cunningham said. "We got some big minutes defensively from Zayn Kirkendoll, Jake, Oliver, and Ian Lorang coming off the bench, we were able to get stops and grind out a win. We are a grinder team and I am grateful that we were able to get it done."
 
The Saints (4-5 Frontier, 15-8 Overall) find themselves in a four-way tie for fourth place in the conference and just two games out of first place with five games yet to play in the conference.
 
They get a chance to move up in the standings next Friday when they face No. 20 Great Falls. The Argos are tied with Montana-Western for first in the Frontier.