HELENA, Mont. - Winners of 12 of their last 13 season-openers, the Carroll Men's Basketball team shook-off some early game struggles to pick up a 96-82 win over St. Thomas (Fla.) on Saturday evening at the PE Center.

While the Bobcats entered the night with a game under their belt, having snuck past MSU-Northern 59-56 last night, the Fighting Saints (1-0) needed a minute to find their footing in their second-straight season-opening win under Head Coach Dan Pearson.

The Frontier Conference's leading scorer from a year ago, Isaiah Crane (Portland, Ore. / R-SO) picked up right where he left off - pouring in a team-high 28 points as Carroll used a strong second half performance to coast to the double-digit win.  The standout sophomore was held relatively in-check in the first half - scoring just nine points, but exploded down the stretch with 17 second half points to help secure the win.

Midway through the opening frame, the Saints found themselves trailing by as much as 14, with the Bobcats knocking down each of their first four three-point attempts. STU's hot shooting cooled down in the later stages of the opening stanza, and Carroll methodically climbed back into the mix with strong contributions from Crane and Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / SO).

Isaac Round (Northampton, England / SO) buried a three pointer with just under two minutes remaining in the first half to give Carroll their first lead since the opening minute, but St. Thomas would find a way to carry a slim one-point lead into the break, 43-42.

Coming out of halftime, the Saints looked like a completely different team. While their first half shooting percentage was higher than their '24-25 season average (57.14 %), they turned things up in a big way in the second, shooting 72 percent from the floor.

An 8-0 run over the first two minutes of the half completely changed the trajectory of the game, and Carroll took control. Both Crane and Harrison put up double-digit points in the second half (Crane 17, Harrison 10), while the Carroll defense stiffened and forced STU into contested shots all over the floor - holding the Bobcats to just 34 percent from the field in the frame.

Kellen Harrison recorded the game's only double-double, putting up 18 points while grabbing 10 boards. 

True freshman Nate Christy (Spokane, Wash.) impressed in his Carroll debut, scoring 10 points while coming away with four rebounds of his own.

Up next for the Saints, an early-season tilt at the PE Center next Saturday at 6 p.m. against last year's NAIA Champion and preseason No. 1 College of Idaho.