HELENA, Mont. – The 17-ranked Montana Western Bulldogs outscored No. 6 Carroll College 65-36 in the second half to overcome a 23-point first half deficit and beat the Saints 99-85 in Frontier Conference action at the PE Center Wednesday.
 
The Saints were in complete control of the game early, led by Match Burnham who hit his first five 3-pointers en route to 16 first-half points.
 
The Bulldogs closed the first half with a pair of baskets to cut the Carroll lead to 49-34 at the half. No UMW player scored in double figures in the first half.
 
After the break, UMW's Shyke Smalls put up 13 points in the first 4:24 of the second half to spur the comeback. Western took the lead for good with 10:30 remaining on a layup from Smalls.
 
The Bulldogs built the lead to as big as 89-70 with 5:01 remaining before Carroll countered but the Saints could only cut the lead to 12 in the final seconds before the Western closed out the 14-point win with a pair of free throws.
 
Smalls finished the game with 34 points, including 25 in the second half.  Dom Robinson had 25 for Western and Kooper Kidgell tallied 19.
 
Burnham scored a team 18 points, Zach Taylor had 15, Ryan Imhoff 12 and Lorel Johnson added 10 off of the bench.
 
The game was a physical battle with 51 called fouls, the Bulldogs were efficient from the line, hitting 37 of 43 (90.3 percent).
 
Carroll takes a break from conference play for five games, starting with a home game against the University of Lethbridge Saturday, Dec. 17 at the PE Center.