BUTTE, Mont. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball battled back in the final minute to force overtime, but ultimately came up short, falling to No. 11 Montana Tech 76-87 in Butte on Thursday.

The Fighting Saints (11-13, 5-8) battled for 40 minutes, but could not keep pace with an efficient overtime effort from No. 11 Montana Tech (22-4, 10-3).

As seems to be the case with any game between the two rival schools, tonight's contest in Butte was a physical, tightly contested slugfest.

Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / SO) opened the scoring for the night, and the teams were off. Montana Tech's Camdyn Larance hit a three point shot with four minutes remaining in the first half to give the Ordiggers would would be their largest lead until late in the game at just six points. Carroll would cut the lead to just two points heading into the halftime break when Brendan Temple (Castle Rock, Colo. / SR) made a layup with seconds left.

The second half played out much the same as the first. The two teams exchanged the lead back-and-forth several times throughout the first ten minutes of the second frame. Montana Tech would go on an 8-0 run capped by a dunk from Caleb Bellach with 5:30 remaining in the half, and the Saints suddenly found themselves down by eight.

Carroll would refuse to quit however, fighting their way back within a basket and possession with less than 30 seconds remaining. Jonny Hillman (Post Falls, Idaho / SR) would hit a layup with one minute remaining to tie the game at 69, getting fouled in the process and sent to the line with 21 seconds left. Hillman's free throw came up just short, but Montana Tech would be unable to get any good attempt at a game-winning shot and the game would go into overtime.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Saints in overtime, however, and a hot-shooting Montana Tech team raced out to a 9-0 run to open the extra period. Carroll would be unable to climb out of the hole, falling in overtime 78-87.

Carroll's Andrew Cook and Montana Tech's Caleb Bellach, the Frontier Conference's top two scorers, each scored a game-high 27 points. Jonny Hillman finished his night with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Isaiah Moore (Fairfield, Calif. / FR) and Brendan Temple each scored 12 for the Saints.

Carroll will now turn its attention towards Rocky Mountain College on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Helena, in what will be a pivotal game in terms of seeding for the upcoming Frontier Conference tournament in Great Falls at the end of the month.

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