HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team finished their 2022-23 regular season on a high-note, defeating Providence 89-82 at the PE Center in Helena on Saturday.

The Fighting Saints (13-13, 7-8) picked up a huge win in their final home game of the year, beating Providence (13-15, 7-8) to get back to .500 on the year.

Carroll entered tonight's game with no opportunity to better their seeding for the upcoming Frontier Conference tournament, but knew they needed a win to remain in the four spot, and more importantly, send their two seniors out the right way.

The Saints were on fire to start the game, seemingly every shot found its way to the bottom of the net as the Saints started the game on an 18-6 run over the first six minutes. Providence would, however, go on a run of their own in the later stages of the first half.

The Argos fought back and eventually took the lead on a Jake Olsen dunk with just under five minutes remaining in the half. After exchanging the lead several times, the Argos would go on a mini-run to hold a five point lead with just over a minute left in the half. A pair of Brendan Temple (Castle Rock, Colo. / SR) free throws to end the half would see Carroll pull within one, 37-38 heading into the break.

Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, Idaho / SR) opened the second half with a bang. The Carroll senior hit the first of his three second half three-pointers to put Carroll back in front. The teams would exchange the lead several times over the next handful of minutes.

The second half played out in a very repetitive pattern; Carroll would go on a run, extending the lead at or near double digits, and then Providence would chop the lead back down. 

With 9:45 remaining in the game, the score was knotted at 61. From that point on, Carroll held off the Argo attack. The Saints would go on to take a lead as large as 10 points with six minutes remaining, and withstood a Providence run that saw their lead dwindle to just three points with a minute left. Four Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / SO) free throws sealed the 89-82 win for the Saints.

Carroll was extremely efficient shooting the ball in the second half, finishing the frame at 72 percent from the floor as a team.

Jonny Hillman finished with a team-high 23 points in his last game at the PE Center, and fellow senior, Brendan Temple, posted 12 points and seven boards in his final home game.

Andrew Cook finished with 21 points, while Isaiah Moore (Fairfield, Calif. / FR) had a great showing off the bench, finishing with 18 points.

Providence's Marcus Stephens led all scorers on the afternoon, finishing with 36 points before fouling out.

As mentioned above, Carroll finds themselves as the No. 4-seed in the upcoming Frontier Conference tournament where they will play Rocky Mountain College at 5 p.m. from the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls on Sunday. 

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