GAME NOTES

THIS WEEK'S GAMES
The Carroll College men's basketball hits the road for likely the toughest road trip in Frontier Conference play starting with No. 16 Montana Western Thursday before heading to eighth-ranked Lewis-Clark in Lewiston, Idaho, Saturday. Western is 14-3 overall and 4-2 in Frontier action, the Saints topped the Bulldogs 77-63 in the first meeting of the season. Lewis-Clark is 16-2 overall and 5-1 in conference and overcame a 22-point deficit to top Carroll 72-70 in the first meeting.
 
ABOUT CARROLL
Ryan Imhoff leads the Saints in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He has stepped into the absence of graduated senior All-American Zach Taylor with gusto and averages a conference-high 20.7 points per game.  Match Burnham is second on the team with 14.8 points per game, and Matt Wyman scores 13.6 points per game.
 
Carroll is the top team in the NAIA for field goal percentage (54.8 percent), free throw percentage (82.4 percent) and in the top ten in total steals, steals per game, three-point field goal percentage, scoring defense, defensive rebounds and total blocks.
 
The Saints have outscored opponents 1538-1182.
 
ABOUT MONTANA WESTERN
Frontier Conference Preseason Player of the Year Dom Robinson is playing at a high level, leading the Bulldogs at 19.3 points and a conference-high 5.4 assists per game. Three other Western players average double figures. The Bulldogs lead the conference with 98.2 points per game, but allow a Frontier most 78.2 PPG.
 
ABOUT LCSC
Four players have played all 18 games for the Warriors and on two Race Martin and Trea Thomas have started all 18. Martin lead is the leading scorer at 14.5 PPG, rebounder at 6.3 RPG and block man at 0.6 BPG. Thomas has a team-high 4.6 assists per game and 1.4 steals per game. Three other players that have played at least 12 games average double figures.
 
STREAKING SAINTS
The Saints started the season with 15-0, the best start in program history and tied the 1966-67 Carroll team for the longest streak in school history at 15.  
 
IMHOFF STAT STUFFING
Ryan Imhoff has 1,652 career points and 647 career rebounds. The third-team All-American led the Saints in points and rebounds last year, and he leads Carroll in scoring (20.7 PPG), rebounds (6.8 RPG), assists (4.3), steal (2.9) and blocks (1.2).
 
LIGHTS OUT WYMAN
Matt Wyman is the leader in the NAIA in field goal percentage at .766 with a significant margin over second place MSU-Northern's Ryan Reeves at .709.
 
THEY CALL THEM FREE FOR A REASON
The Saints are tops in the NAIA for free throw percentage (.824). Carroll closed out the season on top of the category each of the last two seasons and was second in 2014-15. The Saints are four percentage points ahead of second-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene at .784.
 
FEELING IT FROM THE FIELD
Carroll is the top team in NAIA DI for field goal percentage (.548).  The Saints closed out the season in the top spot last year (.534) and the year before (.507). Lewis-Clark is ranked fourth (.525) and Montana Western is fifth (.525)
 
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
The Saints won their first conference championship in over a decade last season, winning the regular-season and topping Lewis-Clark State 93-75 in the tournament championship game in Helena.
 
CUNNINGHAM'S REBUILD
The Saints won just two games the season before Cunningham was hired away from his high school alma mater, Adrean, in Northwest Indiana. Since that time, the Saints have improved every season, with back to back NAIA Quarterfinal appearances in the last two seasons.