HELENA, Mont. – Zach Taylor had been on the floor for nearly every second of the Friday's game against Lewis-Clark State and had the points to show for it. He led Carroll College with 32 and was the only Saints player in double-digits but with just under a minute to play in regulation, the senior picked up his fifth foul on a loose ball.
 
The Saints were already without season leading scorer Ryan Imhoff who was out with an ankle injury and Match Burnham, one of the best three-point shooters in the nation, who is out indefinitely with a wrist injury. Now the Saints would have to close out the game without the man that had willed them into position to capture their 10th-consecutive win.
 
It wouldn't be easy against a talented LCSC squad that had rattled off four-straight wins and put themselves into the third spot in the Frontier Conference.
 
LCSC's Zavon Jackson hit both free throws after Taylor's foul to tie the game at 69.
 
The Saints would need players to step up across the board and the first to step to the plate was Oliver Carr. The junior hit a key bucket on a post move with under 30 seconds to play to put Carroll up 71-69.
 
After an LCSC timeout, it became clear the Warriors would play for the last shot to try to send it to overtime, it was also clear that Doug McDaniel, Lewis-Clark's dynamic leading-scorer, would take the shot.
 
He drove and got a contested layup with 1.8 seconds to tie the game, a good-looking 35-foot attempt from Alejandro Santos Piqueras was just long at the buzzer. It would go into overtime.
 
After going nearly two minutes with neither team scoring, Isaiah Omamogho buried a three-pointer to give LCSC the 74-71 lead. Carr again stepped up with a shot but it was answered with a drive and layup from Trea Thomas.
 
The Saints would respond again, this time Matt Wyman earned a bucket to cut the lead to 76-75. After a missed shot by McDaniel, Carr again worked his magic down low to give Carroll their first lead of the overtime with 1:35 left.
 
The Saints forced the Warriors into consecutive turnovers and with 23 seconds left on the clock, Steven Helm was fouled and went to the line to try to make it a three-point game.
 
The freshman, a 92 percent free throw shooter, hit both to put Carroll up 79-76.
 
The Warriors weren't done yet. Thomas drove and hit a layup to cut the lead to 79-78. Lorel Johnson was fouled with 16 seconds left to again extend the lead back to three, 81-78.
 
McDaniel had a shot in the final seconds but it was wide left and the Wyman corralled the rebound to clinch the win.
"The guys dug deep," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "By overtime we were missing three key players but the fellas DUG! They know each other's game's, they like each other, they fight for each other. It's fun to be a part of. They're working really hard and I think our crowd, which was awesome, sees that, appreciates it and gets energized by it. And in turn the crowd energizes us."
 
Early, the game didn't have the trappings of a knock-down, drag-out affair. After trading early leads, the Saints built a 38-27 lead late in the first half. McDaniel hit a three-pointer in the final minute to cut it to 38-30 at the break.
 
The shot, although seemingly innocuous, would be first points of an 18-0 LCSC run that gave the Warriors a 45-38 lead on Saints with 15:00 to play in the game.
 
Carroll could not find an offensive rhythm to start the second half but after stopping the run, Carroll went on a 6-0 stretch of their own that cut the LCSC advantage to 45-44.
 
The Saints build a lead which stood at 65-60 on a pair of free throws from Ife Kalejaiye with 3:10 remaining but back-to-back buckets from the Warriors would knot the game at 65.
 
After trading shots, the Saints took a 69-67 lead with 1:19 left before the Taylor foul sent Jackson to the line to tie the game, leading to the ensuing drama but eventually the overtime win for the Saints.
 
It was the first overtime game for Carroll since last season's 90-88 loss at Montana Western on Jan. 14, 2016. It also only the second overtime game in Cunningham's tenure as head coach at Carroll.
 
"Lewis Clark made it hard," Cunningham said. "They're a tough outfit, well-coached and deserve credit for playing a hard-fought game. Looking ahead, we just need to embrace the battle royale that is the Frontier Conference."
 
The Saints were again efficient, hitting 27-45 (60 percent) from the field and 9-23 (44.4 percent) from the three-point line. Carroll was 23-25 (92 percent) from the free throw line.
 
Lewis-Clark was 32-63 (50.8) including 19=30 (63.3 percent) in the second half and 11-28 (39.3 percent) from the three-point line. The biggest shooting discrepancy came at the foul line. LCSC, who has a season free throw percentage of 72.8 percent, was just 3-12 (25 percent) from the line Friday.
 
Taylor led all scorers with 32, Carr added 10 for the Saints. Every Carroll player that hit the floor scored at least four points.
 
Fiver Warriors scored in double figures. McDaniel had 21 to lead the way.
 
The Saints next host No. 13 Montana Western Tuesday in the rubber match of the season series. Both teams won road games against each other and the winner will have the inside track to the conference regular-season title.