Game Notes

THE GAME: CARROLL vs. OUR LADY OF THE LAKE – NAIA DI NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND OF 16
The fifth-ranked Carroll College plays No. 21 OLLU for the second time this season. The Fighting Saints defeated Lindsey Wilson 61-53 in the opening round of the NAIA Championship. Our Lady of the Lake defeated Hope International 68-60. The two teams played on Nov. 17 in Helena. The Saints picked up a 78-71 win. 

ABOUT CARROLL
Carroll is 28-5 on the year, including a 13-5 mark in the Frontier Conference, good enough for a share of the title, a first-round bye in the conference tournament and home court advantage. The Saints capitalized on the home court and defeated Rocky Mountain 79-67 in the semifinals and Montana Western 79-67 in the final to earn the Frontier's Automatic bid. The Saints won 11 of their last 12 games, including the semifinals and finals of the Frontier Tournament and the first round win over Lindsey Wilson in the NAIA Championship.
 
Ryan Imhoff  scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to laead Carroll in its opening round win. He leads the Frontier Conference in points (19.9 PPG) and steals (2.5 PG). He leads Carroll in rebounds (7.3 RPG), assists (3.8 APG) and blocks (1.0 BPG). Match Burnham is second on the team with 13.1 PPG, and Matt Wyman averages 12.1 PPG.
 
Carroll excels on the defensive end, allowing a Frontier best 65.16 PPG, four points better than Lewis-Clark, the second-best team in the league. The Saints held Lindsey Wilson to their lowest offensive output of the season. 

ABOUT OUR LADY OF THE LAKE
Our Lady of the Lake fell to LSU Alexandria 91-78 in the semifinals of the Red River Semifinals. The Saints are 22-11 on the year, but that number includes a pair of forfeits. They were 13-5 in the Red River, one of the tougher conferences in the NAIA.  Courtney Julien leads OLLU with 19.0 PPG, he had a team-high 22 points in the game against Carroll earlier this year. Four other players average double figures for OLLU.

OOLLU is 2-3 over the last five games.


BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONS
The Saints won a share of the regular-season title before defending the tournament title with a 79-65 win over Montana Western in the championship game. 

1000 POINTERS
Three Saints; Ryan Imhoff (1,935), Oliver Carr (1,120) and Match Burnham (1,111) are all in the 1,000-point club. Matt Wyman (969) is on the verge breaking the millennium mark.

ROAD to 2,000?
Ryan Imhoff enters the tournament with 1,935 career points and sits fourth in school history behind Bill Pilgeram, Zach Taylor and Andy Garland.  The third-team All-American led the Saints in points and rebounds last year, and he leads Carroll in scoring (19.9 PPG), rebounds (7.3 RPG), assists (3.9), steals (2.6) and blocks (1.0). 

SMALL COLLEGE HOOPS BEVO FRANCIS TOP-25
Ryan Imhoff is one of 25 players on the Small College Basketball Bevo Francis Award Top 25 for the SMB Player of the Year. The award is given to the best player among NAIA, NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, USCAA and NCCAA. There are over 1,100 schools that fall into all of the divisions.

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. 

FEELING IT FROM THE FIELD
Carroll is the top team in NAIA DI for field goal percentage (.537).  The Saints closed out the season in the top spot last year (.534) and the year before (.507). 

CUNNINGHAM'S to 100
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. He broke the 100-win plateau against Montana Tech on Feb. 7 and is now 107-51. He hit the 100-win mark faster than any Carroll Coach in school history.

WIN STREAK 
The Saints' 15-game win streak to start the season is the best start in school history and tied or the longest streak in school history.

EXPERIENCE IN KANSAS CITY
The five Carroll starters have played significant minutes in seven NAIA Tournament games and four Burnham, Imhoff, Wyman and Kalejaiye started in every single one of those games.