Men's Basketball | 12/29/23 | 10:05 AM

HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team will get one more home tune-up before their Frontier Conference Season begins next month, hosting Lakeland (Can) this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Carroll College PE Center.

The Fighting Saints (5-7) have had an up-and-down start to the season, but will look to build some momentum against the Rustlers tonight in front of the hometown fans.

After a short Christmas break, the Saints are ready to return to the court. Their last action was the annual Cactus Classic in Chandler, Ariz. where the team went 1-2 in three highly-competitive matchups.

After dropping their first two games of the tournament to Huntington (Ind.) and No. 18 The Master's (Calif.), the Saints closed out their desert swing with a thrilling win over MidAmerica Nazarene.

Offensively, the Saints are at their best when they can slow the game down and get into their half court sets. Carroll is averaging 81.6 points per game on the year, but at times struggle to keep pace in shootouts with other high-scoring teams. 

In four of their five wins on the year, the Saints have held their opponents to 77 points or less. In their seven losses, the Saints are allowing an average of 88.5 points per game.

Slowing down the game, controlling the pace and the boards have been key for the Saints, and look for that to continue tonight.

Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / JR) and Kendall Moore (Dayton, Ohio / JR) have been electric in the back court. Both have shown the ability to take over a game, and each are averaging more than 15 points per game (Cook 18.3, Moore 15.2).

The Rustlers make the trip down from Lloydminster, Alberta, and are playing a trio of Frontier opponents over the course of the week. Carroll is sandwiched in-between yesterday's matchup with Montana Tech, and tomorrow's tilt with MSU-Northern in Havre.

Tonight's game will be streamed on the Fighting Saints Network - presented by Point S Tire & Auto Service, and live stats can be found HERE.

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