KANSAS CITY – The Carroll College men's basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm and gave up a late lead to fall to Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) 64-62 in the round of 16 of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
 
The OLLU defense played a very high level early and built a 15-3 over the first eight minutes of the game.
 
A Lorel Johnson bucket with 9:30 to play in the first spurred a 12-1 run to cut the OLLU advantage to 19-17. Our Lady of the Lake responded with a 7-2 run to close the half to take a 26-19 lead at the break.
 
The Carroll offense found a bit of a rhythm in the second half and a 40-39 lead with 13:03 to play. The Saints extended the lead to 51-39 with 4:11 to play, before the OLLU defense shut the Saints down. Our Lady of the Lake closed regulation on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 51 and force overtime.
 
Ryan Imhoff hit a bucket to open the overtime period, but OLLU went on a 4-0 run to go ahead 55-53. The Saints tied the game on a pair of Matt Wyman free throws and took a 57-55 lead on a bucket by Imhoff.
 
The two teams traded free throws, but OLLU went on a 7-0 run to take a 64-59 lead. Alejandro Santos Piqueras hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, but it would not be enough as the OLLU closed out the 64-62 win and advanced to the NAIA quarterfinals.
 
"We turned it over a little too much," head coach Carson Cunningham said. "I love this group, it is frustrating. I am very disappointed. I don't want to stop coaching them. They are a joy to coach. I wish I could have found a little bit more to help them, but they gave everything they had. They are an unbelievable group of young men. They care so much, and they work so hard, and they've taken Carroll to amazing heights. We struggled to make shots and had some very untimely turnovers."
 
The Saints were 22-61 (36.1 percent) from the field and just 4-24 (16.7 percent) from the three-point line. Imhoff closed out his stellar career with a game-high 18 points on 9-15 shooting. Match Burnham added 11 points and Kalejaiye scored 10.
 
Our Lady of the Lake was 21-51 (41.2 percent) from the field and 2-14 (14.3 percent) from the three-point line. Four OLLU players scored in double figures, led by Julien Courtney and Darion Brown with 14 each.
 
The game closes out the career of one of the most successful classes in school history. The group won 98 games with a winning percentage of .748. They played in eight NAIA Championship games and won back-to-back Frontier titles. Imhoff finishes his career fourth in scoring in Carroll history with 1,953 career points.
 
"These guys are unbelievable," Cunningham said. "What these guys have accomplished is unreal. I am very, very proud of them and I am going to miss them dearly. These guys are unbelievable young men, and I think they are going to do a lot of incredible things in life. It is tough right now, but we've got to accept it and move forward."