HELENA, Mont. -- The Carroll College men's basketball regular season begins in Butte on Friday, as the Fighting Saints take on Southern Oregon at 3 p.m. 

Southern Oregon is ranked No. 18 in the NAIA DII poll. 

"The stakes are now higher now with all counter games for the rest of the season starting with SOU," Saints coach Kurt Paulson said. "We're leaning on our returners to lead our young players and show them what it takes to win games. We just finished practice No. 25 so it's time to tip it up."

This will be the first counter of the season for the Saints, who traveled to Corvallis, Oregon, last week to face the Oregon State Beavers in an exhibition. 

It will be a tall test against the Raiders, who return 13 players from their 2018-19 team that finished with a 21-11 record. They return three of their top scorers, including Jordan Hunt (13.5 ppg), Teron Bradford (10.4 ppg) and Tate Hoffman (10.2 ppg). 

For the Saints, it will be a chance to see how the Saints' talented returners -- led by preseason conference MVP Dane Warp -- gel with a host of underclassmen. 

Then, on Saturday, the Saints face the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers, a team coached by former Carroll assistant Carlito Labarda Jr. The Mounties were selected to finish fifth in the Cascade this season, a year after they posted a 15-15 overall record. 

For more on the Fighting Saints, read the 2019-20 prospectus. 

The game can be watched via Montana Tech's YouTube page.