HELENA, Mont. - The No. 23 Carroll College Men's Basketball team picked up a win over Montana Western to open Frontier Conference play, winning 76-65 on Thursday night in Helena.

Carroll (5-1), back at home for the first time in over a month, gave Saints fans plenty to cheer about in their 76-65 win over Montana Western (5-6). The tone-setting win gave Carroll a good starting point for a long Frontier Conference season, as they look to repeat their Conference title from a year ago.

The game started off in Western's favor, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game. 

The Saints would battle back, however, going on 14-0 run to take an 18-12 lead midway through the first half. Carroll would grow their lead to as large as 10 points in the first half, but a late Bulldog run would narrow the gap and bring the score to 35-33 in favor of the Saints heading into the halftime break.

Once again, the Bulldogs would have a good start to the period, quickly grabbing a three point lead of their own just over a minute into the half.

The two teams would battle for the majority of the second, with neither team able to break away until under five minutes left in the game. A 10-0 run for the Saints in the later stages of the game would give Carroll the breathing room they were looking for, and the Saints would go on to close out the game, 76-65.

Brendan Temple (Castle Rock, Colo. / SR) had a career high in points, leading all scorers with 27 points. The Senior Preseason All-Conference selection posted a double-double, adding 13 rebounds to his 27 point performance.

Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / SO) continued his strong play, adding 20 points of his own, and Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, Idaho / SR) followed closely with 19 points.

Jok Jok led the Bulldogs in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 6-7 shooting from the floor, and Jamal Stephenson also added 16 points for Western.

Carroll will now head to the hi-line this weekend, taking on the Lights of MSU-Northern on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that game, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.