HELENA, Mont. – The Carroll Men's Basketball team edged out MSU-Northern 73-71 in the Frontier Conference season opener on Thursday night at the PE Center.
 
It was a tale of two halves, and the first half was a very defensive one. Carroll started out down, 14-4 early on, but battled back to take a 30-24 lead heading into half time.
 
The second half was a bit more high-scoring than the first. Carroll found themselves with a 60-48 lead with a little over seven minutes left to play.
 
The Lights responded with a 13-0 run to take a 61-60 lead with around 4:30 left in the ball game. Andrew Cook responded with a three-pointer, followed by an and-one to put the Saints back ahead by five points.
 
From there, Carroll closed the game out with a 73-71 final score. Andrew Cook scored nine of his 20 points in the final stretch to help the Saints ice the victory.
 
Jovan Sljivancanin was the leading scorer for Carroll with 22 points. He added nine rebounds.
 
The dynamic duo of Mascio McCadney and David Harris led the way for MSU-Northern. Harris had a game-high 31, and McCadney added 21.
 
Carroll is now 11-0 this season and 1-0 in Frontier Conference play. Northern slides down to 7-2 on the year with a conference record of 0-1.
 
The Saints will return to the hardwood in Dillon on Saturday, as they take on Montana Western at 4 p.m.