Men's Basketball | 11/10/23 | 3:00 PM

HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team will get their first opportunity of the season to play in front of a home crowd at the Carroll PE Center as they host the annual Comfort Suites Classic this weekend in Helena. Carroll will play Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) and Corban (Ore.) at 7:30 p.m. each of the next two nights, with MSU-Northern playing the off-team at 5:30 p.m.

The Fighting Saints (0-2) opened the season with a pair of losses at the Fultz Memorial Classic in Arizona last weekend, but will look to pick up their first win of the season tonight against Embry-Riddle (1-0).

Even though the first two games both resulted in losses, the Saints walked away from Arizona feeling good about where they stand heading into the bulk of their out-of-conference schedule. The Saints were able to identify several areas in which they need to improve, and have been hard at work doing so this week.

One area that will be a focus is on the defensive end of the court. Through two games, Carroll has allowed 88 points per game, with opponents shooting 55.9 percent from the field and over 40 percent from the three point line.

The Saints went toe-to-toe with NCAA Division I opponent Utah Valley on Monday, with a much stingier defensive effort that they will look to build on for this weekend.

Andrew Cook has been outstanding through two games, averaging 18 points per game to lead the Saints.

Embry-Riddle enters the weekend with only one countable contest, a 74-65 win over Bellevue (Neb.), in which the Eagles got 13 points off of the bench from Vinny Belcaster to lead the team.

Corban, the Saints' Saturday opponent are 1-1 with a win over Pacific, and an overtime loss at Providence in their season opener. The Warriors are led by Aundree Polk and his 15.5 points per game.

The full schedule for this weekend's Comfort Suites Classic is as follows:
11-10-23 5:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern vs Corban
11-10-23 7:30 p.m.
Carroll vs Embry-Riddle
11-11-23 5:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern vs Embry-Riddle
11-11-23 7:30 p.m.
Carroll vs Corban

Tickets for each night are good for both the 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. matchups.

Each game will be streamed on the Fighting Saints Network - presented by Point S Tire & Auto Service.

Live stats for Friday's game can be found HERE, and Saturday's game HERE.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com each evening for a full recap of the action, and to stay up to date on everything going on in Carroll Athletics.