HELENA, Mont. – Carroll College overcame turnover struggles with a strong shooting night en route to a 76-63 win over NCAA DII opponent MSU Billings Sunday evening at the PE Center.
 
The game was a make-up game after the original game, scheduled for Dec. 16, was cancelled because of bad driving conditions.
 
Carroll started the game with 5-0 run on a three-pointer from Match Burnham and a bucket from Matt Wyman before the Yellowjackets went on a 11-2 run to take a 11-7 run with 14:45 left in the first half.
 
The Saints then went on a 22-7 run to take 29-18 lead with 8:49 remaining in the first half. The Jackets wouldn't go away quietly and battled back to cut the Carroll lead to 33-31 with 3:53 remaining in the half. The two teams battled over the final few minutes and Carroll took a 40-35 lead into the break.
 
MSUB cut the Carroll lead to 44-42 with 15:38 remaining in the game but an 11-2 run gave the Saints a 55-46 lead and they kept the Yellowjackets at arms length for the remainder of the game en route to the 13-point victory.
 
Oliver Carr led the Saints with 23 points and seven rebounds, both team highs. He was exceptionally active inside which led to the Saints outscoring MSUB 34-16 in the paint. The Saints also outrebounded the Jackets 38-24.
 
Zach Taylor in his first action since hitting the game winner over Montana Western scored 12 points and Burnham added 10. The Saints tallied 16 assists on 27 made shots.
 
Carroll shot 27 of 47 (57.4 percent) from the field while holding MSUB to 21 of 61 (34.4 percent).
 
Marc Matthews led MSU Billings with 20 points and Preston Beverly tallied 16 points and a team-high six rebounds.
 
"We took really smart shots and I think that is kind of an indication of the guys being really unselfish," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "Unfortunately we did turn the ball over too much. I thought we were aggressive defensively with some great rotations. This is a tough game for us and a nice win. They are a 3-1 team in the GNAC and came in here on a Three-game win streak. We shot the ball really well and had a great defensive performance and we can build on that as we continue to prepare for the rest of the conference schedule."
 
Carr's 23-points was a season-high and Cunningham is excited to see him get into the rhythm ahead of the return to Frontier Conference play.
 
"It was great to see Oliver get a rhythm going, he had a great game against Cal but struggled against Stanford," Cunningham said. "He has a great growth mindset and he wants to improve so it is great to put him in those type of situations. We've seen him respond to adversity and get going."
 
The Saints earned a win over the Yellowjackets for the second consecutive season after topping them 71-66 a season ago. The timing of the rescheduled game ended up being good for the Saints to help shake off the Christmas break rust.
 
"I feel like this was a nice to get a tough opponent during this post-Christmas period for us to focus on sharpening our game," Cunningham said. "It was a conference style test, against a really good team that is going to help us as we get ready for the battle royale that is the Frontier slate."
 
The Saints close out the non-conference season Monday at 7:30 p.m., with a game against Yellowstone Christian, a first-year program from out of Billings.