HELENA, Mont. - Riding a seven-game winning-streak, the Carroll Men's Basketball team will round out the calendar year with a trip to the desert for the Cactus Classic this week, where they'll take on a trio of Arizona schools at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

The Fighting Saints (8-1, 7-0) are off to their best start since the 2021-22 season in which they carried a perfect record into the same Cactus Classic event. This year's squad enters with just one blemish on their record, a loss to then-ranked No. 1 College of Idaho all the way back on November 1.

Carroll enters the week as one of the hottest teams not only in the Frontier, but the NAIA at large over the last month and a half. Over the course of their seven-game streak, the Saints have been averaging 92 points per game - including a pair of 100-plus performances this past weekend at the PE Center. While two of the victories have been narrow, a pair of two-point wins at Rocky and Montana Tech, the Saints still have been winning games by a 17-point margin over the course of the streak.

Six times over the last month the Saints have put up 85 points or more in their wins, but offense hasn't been the only reason for success. Carroll has been tremendous on the defensive end of the court, entering the week at No. 22 in turnovers forced per game (16.7) and No. 7 in the nation in steals per game (11.7).

The Saints have consistently garnered the league's Defensive Player of the Week honor, and Lorence Dela Cruz (Winnipeg, Manitoba / SR) enters the event as the latest Saint to be recognized. The senior guard posted back-to-back games with six steals over the weekend, completely changing the trajectory of each contest. He now leads the team with 27 steals on the season, and joins Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) who has three Frontier DPOTW honors on the season.

Competition will be stiff for the Fighting Saints this week in the desert, as following the NAIA release on Wednesday they will likely face a pair of ranked opponents and another strong competitor from the GSAC.

On Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m., they'll take on Benedictine-Mesa, a team who enters the week with an unbeaten 13-0 record, including wins over Embry-Riddle and No. 2 Arizona Christian, both of whom the Saints will play later in the week. The Redhawks also have a seven-point victory over Providence back in November in Arizona.

Thursday at 3 p.m., the Saints will square-off with Embry-Riddle. The Eagles are 7-5 on the season, but suffered only a one-point loss to Benedictine-Mesa two weeks ago.

Following a day of rest, Carroll will wrap up their desert swing with a showdown against current No. 2, Arizona Christian at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The pair played an early-season contest last year in Helena, with the Firestorm coming away with an overtime win over the Saints in Head Coach Dan Pearson's third game at the helm.

All three games will be streamed live at the links below:

CC vs BU-M | CC vs ERAU | CC vs ACU

Live stats for each game can be found below:

CC vs BU-M | CC vs ERAU | CC vs ACU