HELENA, Mont. - This weekend, the Carroll College men's basketball team plays a pair of road games beginning Thursday at Montana Tech before traveling to Lewiston, Idaho, Saturday to face Lewis-Clark State. One win and the Saints record at least a share of the Frontier Conference title, two and the Saints own the outright championship and home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
 
The Saints have not won a regular-season conference title since sharing the championship with MSU-Northern in 2010-11. The last outright title for Carroll came in the 2005-05 season.
 
Carroll is 23-6 overall and 13-3 in the Frontier. Ryan Imhoff leads the Saints with 17.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Zach Taylor averages 17.0 points and 3.64 assists per game.
 
Standing in the way of Carroll's conference championship is Montana Tech who is 7-21 and 1-16 in Frontier Conference play under first-year head coach Adam Hiatt and Lewis-Clark State who is 21-8 overall and 11-6 in league.
 
"We're excited to have a chance to claim at least a share of the Frontier Conference title on Thursday night," Carson Cunningham said. "Montana Tech is playing improved ball of late, so we know it'll be a tough challenge. Anytime, you take the floor in the Frontier, you need to be ready to play some ball, especially on the road."
 
Junior college transfer Chris O'Neill leads Montana Tech with 13.5 points and 4.15 assists per game. Lukas Vining is second on the team with 11.3 PPG.
 
The second leg of the trip includes a matchup against third-place Lewis-Clark. The Saints picked up a close win in the first meeting and won in Helena without Imhoff and Match Burnham. While Imhoff is back in action for Carroll, Burnham is still out, and Oliver Carr is down with a season-ending injury.
 
Carroll doesn't have the luxury of looking past Montana Tech, and Cunningham knows his team is focused on the Diggers.
 
"We're focused on Tech," he said. "We know that a stout Lewis-Clark State squad awaits on Saturday night. But our first order of business is to be ready to rock and roll on Thursday."
 
Thursday's game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on 94.9 FM ESPN Montana Radio. A live stream is available via the Montana Tech Athletics Youtube Channel. Live stats will be available via Dakstats.