HELENA, Mont. - The No. 23 Carroll College Men's Basketball team earned a bounce-back win in their first game of the Comfort Suites Classic, beating Bushnell 99-82 on Friday night at the Carroll College PE Center.

The Fighting Saints (6-2, 1-1) jumped out to an early lead, and cruised to a 99-82 win over Bushnell (2-6, 0-3) in front of their home crowd this evening.

Brayden Koch (Helena, Mont. / FR) opened the game burying a three point shot, and the Saints would not look back.

Carroll would go on to lead by nine within the first five minutes, and in the later stages of the first half their lead would balloon to as large as 21 points. A late half Bushnell push would narrow the gap to 16, with Carroll leading 57-41 at the break. 

Scoring was aplenty in the first half, with two Carroll guards posting double digit points to begin the game. Koch had 10 points in the half, and Andrew Cook would finish the opening period with 14 points. The Saints shot nearly 70 percent from the field as a team in the first half (68.8).

The Beacons would trim the Carroll lead to as little as 10 points in the early stages of the second half, but Carroll shooters would stay hot. Carroll would close out the Beacons on the back of 50 percent shooting, leading to the 99-82 win.

Andrew Cook continued his strong start to 2022, and finished his night with 20 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

Isaiah Moore (Fairfield, Calif. / FR) had a tremendous outing off of the bench for the Saints, finishing with a team-high 21 points, four rebounds, and three steals.

Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, Idaho / SR) dished out a game-high 12 assists, while Brendan Temple (Castle Rock, Colo / SR) finished with 10 points.

Bushnell's Spencer Hoffman had an outstanding night, leading all scorers with 26 points and all players with 12 rebounds. 

Carroll will have a quick turnaround, taking on a talented Corban University squad tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. to round out the Comfort Suites Classic.

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