HELENA, Mont. – The No. 2 Carroll College men's basketball team used a 12-3 second-half run to pull away from No. 16 Montana Western and earn a 77-63 win over the Bulldogs in a heavyweight bout to open the bulk of the Frontier Conference season Thursday evening at the PE Center.
The Bulldogs (11-3, 1-2 FC) opened the scoring with a bucket from Kooper Kidgell with 18:54 left in the first half.
Match Burnham answered with a three-point play to give Carroll (15-0, 3-0 FC) a 3-2 lead, the Saints never trailed again, but Western wasn't about to let them pull away.
Western focused on Carroll leading scorer
Ryan Imhoff, leaving point guard
Lorel Johnson open off of ball screens, Johnson took advantage of the space and scored 11 of his season-high 13 in the first half. He spurred the Saints to a 16-8 lead early, but Western wouldn't let it get larger than that before the break, and they cut it to 40-34 at the half.
The Bulldogs kept the game close, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 13:51 to play before the Saints went on a run to extend the lead to double digits and put the game out of reach. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 67-57 with 3:31 remaining, but wouldn't come any closer and the Saints closed out the 13-point win.
"The Fighting Saints dug in on D," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "That was great to see. It helped us get into an offensive flow. Montana Western played hard. They're a good team that presented us with a challenge. It was impressive to see our guys play with such vim and vigor."
The Saints held Western to their season low by nearly 20 points and well below their season average of 101.9 PPG. Carroll also forced Western into 16 turnovers with 10 steals. The Bulldogs were 27-58 (46.6 percent) from the field, including 3-16 (18.8 percent) from the three-point line.
Carroll shot below their season average, at 30-64 (46.9 percent) from the field and 4-14 (28.6 percent) from the three-point line, but continued its stellar shooting at the line, going in 13-14 (92.9 percent).
Imhoff was right on his season average with a game-high 21 points. He also had a team-high nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and five steals with just one turnover.
Ife Kalejaiye added 14 points and Johnson scored 13. Alejandro Santos Piquearas also added nine rebounds for Carroll.
"It was great to see Lorel, our QB, put together another exquisite floor game," Cunningham added. "So many guys, like Ife and Dane Warp and Santos and more, are doing nice things on both ends of the floor. We just want to keep developing and see where we can take this. We know we have mighty challenges ahead. They're all battles in the Frontier."
The Saints next face No. 10 Lewis-Clark Saturday at the PE Center. The Warriors were edged by Rocky Mountain Thursday in Billings, giving them their first conference loss. The game is slated for 7:30 p.m.
