HELENA, Mont. - The historic unbeaten streak to begin conference play came to an end for the Carroll Men's Basketball team on Saturday evening, as they dropped a back-and-forth battle to (RV) Bellevue at the PE Center, 81-77.

After an 8-0 start to the new-look Frontier Conference slate, the Fighting Saints (10-4, 8-1) were upended by their fellow conference leader Bruins (13-2, 8-1) in a physical bout.

Bellevue raced out to an early lead, opening the game on a 14-3 run over the first four minutes before Carroll finally found their footing. By the nine minute mark of the opening frame, the Saints battled back to even things up at 22-22. Four minutes after that, they grabbed their first lead of the night on a jumper by Drew Jones (Puyallup, Wash. / FR).

A pair of three-pointers from Isaiah Crane (Portland, Ore. / R-SO) and Gavin Gross (Portland, Ore. / FR) near the end of the half saw Carroll take a 34-30 lead into the break.

Isaac Round's (Northampton, England / SO) hot-streak continued in the first half of Saturday's game, as he led all players with nine points.

Coming out of the break, the Saints would see their lead grow to as large as six points at the 16-minute mark, but a hot-shooting Ahamad Bynum from Bellevue would score seven-straight to help put the Bruins back on top - this time for good.

Carroll played catch-up for the final 10 minutes of the game, and simply couldn't find enough stops on the defensive end to pull back in front. Four times over the final five minutes they narrowed the gap to just one score, but Bellevue had an answer for every advance to close out the win and hand the Saints their first conference loss of the year.

Nate Christy (Spokane, Wash. / FR) had the best night of his young career, scoring a career-best and team-high 18 points, while also pulling down four boards.

Isaiah Crane (Portland, Ore. / R-SO), one of the best finishers in the Frontier had an unusual night, going 0-9 from two-point range, but a perfect 4-4 from range en route to a 17-point, six rebound finish.

The Saints will look to start a new streak next weekend, as they host another pair of Frontier newcomers - Mayville State and Valley City State on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. inside the PE Center.