CALDWELL, Idaho - The Carroll Men's Basketball team saw their season come to a close with a 72-66 loss to Cornerstone (Mich.) in the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship First Round - presented by Ballogy on Friday evening.

The Fighting Saints (19-12, 12-3) put up a good fight, but ultimately were forced to bow out of the NAIA Championship after a 40 minute battle with the Golden Eagles (25-7, 17-5).

A team doubted by many entering the season did something few would have predicted in November. The Saints played an opening round game in the national tournament, and performed valiantly at that.

Slowing down a high-scoring Cornerstone offense was goal number one for Carroll heading into the game, and they did a great job of it. The Saints held the No. 16 offense in the NAIA to just 72 points, their third lowest point total on the season.

Although the pace was slowed, Cornerstone was still highly efficient with their looks. The Golden Eagles shot 54.5 percent from the floor as a team, while the Saints were on the other end of the spectrum, shooting just 38 percent on the whole.

Cory Ainsworth, the outstanding center for the Golden Eagles, led all scorers with 26 points on a 13-21 shooting night. Carroll simply didn't have an answer for the big man, who was joined in double-digit scoring by Luke Rowlinson who finished with 14 points.

Carroll had four different players post double-digits, led by Frontier Player of the Year Andrew Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif. / JR) who scored 21. Gui Pedra (Sao Paulo, Brazil / SR) scored 13 in his final game as a Saint, James Lang (Portland, Ore. / R-SO) added 11 and Kendall Moore (Dayton, Ohio / JR) posted 10 points.

Trailing by just two points with a minute remaining, the Saints couldn't find a bucket. After a missed layup attempt by the Saints, Cornerstone ran down the clock and found Ainsworth for down low to double their lead to four with just over 20 seconds left. Again, Carroll came up empty on the ensuing possession before the Golden Eagles iced the game with free throws in the waning seconds.

There is plenty of reason to be excited if you are a fan of the Purple and Gold. This altogether young team made great strides in year one under Head Coach Ryan Lundgren, and will return a large part of a roster that made the tournament for the first time since 2021-22. 

Stay tuned to www.carrollathletics.com this spring and summer as the Saints add new recruits and finalize their 2024-25 schedule.