Friday Game Links
NOTES l LIVE STATS l LIVE VIDEO ($) l LIVE AUDIOKANSAS CITY – Ryan Imhoff scored a career-high 25 points and the No. 19 Carroll men nearly reached the century mark en route to a 99-82 upset of No. 15 Peru State (Neb.) in the first round of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Championship First Round.
The Saints opened the game with a 19-6 run to take complete control of the game from the start. Peru battled back to cut the lead to 26-19 with just over seven minutes left in the first half before went on an 12-3 run to extend the lead to 38-22 with 4:40 left in the first frame.
The Bobcats would never cut the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the game.
The Saints continued to add to their advantage and led 55-33 at the break after
Ryan Imhoff hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left.
The Carroll defense established the tone in the first half. The Bobcats were just 11 of 29 (37.9 percent) from the field in the first half and tallied seven turnovers. Player of the Year Candidate Corday Sims scored 15 points in the first half but was just 3 of 10 from the field.
The Saints on the other hand were 18 of 32 (56.3 percent), including 7 of 11 (63.6 percent) from the three-point line. The Saints tallied 11 assists in the first half alone.
Carroll's main concern in the second half was maintaining the advantage and the Saints would counter every Peru attempt to get back in the game.
The Bobcats went on an 11-1 run to cut the Carroll lead to 80-70 with 6:31 remaining but the Saints rallied back with a 12-2 streak to extend the lead to 92-72 and put an end to the Bobcats' comeback bid. The two teams traded baskets before Carroll closed out the 17-point win.
The Saints had six players in double figures led by Imhoff with 25,
Match Burnham tallied 19 and
Zach Taylor had 10.
Lorel Johnson scored 12 and
Oliver Carr tallied 10 off of the bench for the Saints.
Ife Kalejaiye scored 11 points in his first start since Nov. 27 against Adams State.
Imhoff tallied a game-high 11 rebounds, just one short of his career high.
The Saints were 32 of 57 (56.1 percent) from the field and 8 of 15 (53.3 percent). Carroll tallied 18 assists on 32 made baskets.
"Anybody that really loves the game just saw a beautiful game with beautiful passing, and that is what you have to do against a very strong, very talented team like Peru State," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "We've faced so many different styles in the Frontier (Conference). We've faced press, we've faced zones, we've faced man and that helped us a lot against a team we haven't seen before."
Carroll held Peru State to 28 of 63 (44.4 percent) from the field and 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) from the 3-point line. Sims ended with a game-high 27 points but was just 7 of 20 (35 percent) from the field.
The Saints advance to play No. 2 LSU Alexandria in the round of 16. The Generals were ranked No. 1 for much of the season but fell to 74-72 to Langston University in overtime of the Red River Conference title game.
LSUA scores an average of 84.16 points per game and holds their opponents to 71 points per game.
Three LSUA players average double figures led by point guard DeAngelo Coleman with 14.4 PPG. Brian Sylvester scores 12.6 PPG and leads the Generals with 8.42 rebounds per game. Sylvester is the best shot blocker in NAIA DI with 94 blocked shots on the season and an average of over three blocks per game.
LSUA advanced to the round of 16 after a 95-74 win over SAGU (Texas).
The game is slated for 5:15 MDT at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. Live video and stats are available from the NAIA and the game will be broadcast live on 94.9 ESPN Montana or on ESPNMontana.com.
