HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team picked up their third-straight win, topping Rocky Mountain College 80-74 on Thursday at the Carroll College PE Center.

The Fighting Saints (11-9, 5-4) have turned a corner, stringing together their third win in-a-row over a resilient Rocky Mountain College (10-11, 2-7) team on Thursday in Helena.

The reigning NAIA National Player of the Week, Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / SO), picked right where he left off, burying a three-pointer to open the scoring for both teams. Carroll would race out to an early 10 point lead, starting the game on an 11-1 run. 

Carroll would grow a first half lead as large as 11 points, but the Battlin' Bears would no go down quietly. A Kael Robinson dunk near the end of the half would cut the Saints lead to six points, 39-33 entering the halftime break.

Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, Idaho / SR), who has been sidelined with an injury, made a splash in his first court action in two weeks. Hillman scored 11 points in the first half. Rocky's Baeu Santistevan had a great first half for the Bears, scoring 13 points in the opening frame. 

Rocky quickly erased the Saints lead in the second half. The Battlin' Bears went on an 8-0 run in the first 90 seconds to take their first lead of the game. The two teams would fight for the lead over the next eight minutes, with neither able to break things open.

A 9-0 run for Carroll near the midway point of the second half would see the Saints take a 10 point lead with just under eight minutes remaining. Again, Rocky refused to give in, narrowing the lead to just two points with one minute remaining. 

Andrew Cook would hit a 12-footer from the right baseline to give the Saints a four point lead with 22 seconds remaining, and the Bears would see a game-tying attempt come up empty on the ensuing possession. A pair of Brayden Koch (Helena, Mont. / FR) free throws would secure the 80-74 win for Carroll.

Two Saints finished with 20-plus points, Jonny Hillman would score 22 points in his return to the action, and Andrew Cook scored a game-high 27 points, continuing his impressive run over the last three games. Gui Pedra (Sao Paulo, Brazil / JR) scored 12 points off the bench for the Saints.

Rocky was led by Beau Santistevan's 24 point, 10 rebound double-double.

Carroll will travel to Providence this weekend, with a chance to tie the Argonauts for second place in the Frontier Conference standings.

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