HELENA, Mont. – The No. 14 Carroll College men's basketball team started the conference season 5-0 before falling to Montana Western 90-88 in double overtime. This week, the Saints are on the road for a pair of Frontier games starting in Butte Thursday before heading to Lewiston, Idaho, to face No. 3 Lewis-Clark State Saturday.
 
The Saints are tied with LCSC for tops in the Frontier with a 6-1 record and have won five of their last six games. Honorable mention All-American Zach Taylor leads the Saints with 18.47 points along with 5.13 assists per game.
 
Carroll is the top free throw shooting team in the NAIA at 78.6 percent and, despite not having a player taller than 6-8, leads the nation in defensive rebounding at 28.646 per game.
 
Montana Tech, the Saints first opponent of the week, is 6-13 on the season and 1-6 in Frontier Conference play with the lone win being a 74-66 win over the University of Great Falls in their last outing.
 
Jalen Coates leads the Diggers with 18.21 points per game followed by Paul Engstrom who averages 14.4 PPG and a team-high 7.2 RPG.
 
The Saints won the first meeting 72-63 in Helena.
 
"We're excited to head to Butte for another conference challenge," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "Their crowd is spirited, their team dangerous. We're going to have to be energized and focused."
 
Carroll travels to the original territorial capital of Idaho, Saturday for a tough test against the 18-1 Warriors. LCSC's lone loss of the year came at the hands of the Saints, who rallied from a 40-37 halftime deficit to up end the Warriors 96-70. Carroll shot 20 of 22 (90.9 percent) in the second half of the rout.
 
The Warriors are on a nine-game win streak, including a 100-59 win over Rocky Mountain.
 
Montana transfer Jake Wiley leads the team in Points (15.5 PPG), rebounds (6.69 RPG) and Blocks (1.56 BPG).
 
"Lewis-Clark is so good at shooting the long ball, that their players don't even have to leave their dorm rooms for pre-game shoot-around," Cunningham said. "That's how much range they have. This game will be quite a challenge too. "
 
The Saints and Diggers tip at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Saturday's game is slated for 8:30 p.m. MDT.