HELENA, Mont. - A capacity crowd at the PE Center was treated to a thrilling Carroll victory over rival Montana Tech on Friday night, as the Saints held steady in the closing minute for a 61-59 win to remain just one game back of the Frontier lead.

Four years removed from a controversial loss in which Montana Tech made a last second shot at the tail-end of the shot clock in the waning moments, the Fighting Saints (14-6, 12-3) saw a form of poetic justice on Friday, as a late-game shot clock violation closed the door on an Oredigger comeback attempt.

Friday night's rivalry game marked the first time since 2020 in which neither team owned at least a share of first place in the Frontier Conference standings, however, plenty was still on the line for the two schools.

Following a high-scoring overtime affair in the first meeting between the teams in December, Friday's game was a low-scoring, physical slugfest. 

Both defenses showed up to play, leading to the lowest-scoring games of the season for each side. Open looks were few-and-far-between on both ends of the court over the first 20 minutes, as the teams combined to shoot just 36 percent from the field.

Asher Williams and Ethan Venema combined for 18 of Tech's 25 first half points, while the trio of Isaiah Crane (Portland, Ore. / R-SO), Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) and Isaac Round (Northampton, England / SO) made up 20 of Carroll's 26 first half points.

Both sides exchanged the lead several times in a tightly-contested opening frame, but it was an Isaiah Crane layup at the end of the half that would give Carroll a slim one-point advantage at the break.

While neither team could create much separation all night, twice in the second half would Carroll extend the lead to three-scores at seven points. The Saints strung together a series of mini-runs over the first 15 minutes of the final frame, but every time it looked like things might break open, the Orediggers would find a way to respond.

The Saints held the lead for the majority of the second half, but a Hayden Diekhans three-pointer at the 4:25 mark would knot the game up at 56-56. A Diekhans free throw with 2:35 remaining would give Tech their first lead since the early stages of the second half, but the scoring would stop there for the Orediggers.

Crane responded with a go-ahead layup on the ensuing possession, and the Carroll defense would stand tall over the final two minutes.

With the game clock and shot clock separated by just seconds, Tech had one final chance to take the lead, however, the Saints played sound on the defensive end to close out the memorable win. Carroll put together a gutsy 30-second last stand that resulted in a Montana Tech shot clock violation. The outstanding team defensive effort culminated with an Isaac Round deflection on a skip pass to hold the Orediggers without a shot attempt and send the PE Center into a frenzy.

Crane finished with a team-high 16 points in the win, while Harrison and Drew Jones (Puyallup, Wash. / FR) were the lone other Saints to score in double figures, each finishing with 10.

Isaac Round finished with six points, as well as team-highs in both assists (4) and rebounds (6).

Only twice under Head Coach Dan Pearson have the Saints scored less points in a game than Friday night's 61, a pair of 59-point efforts last season over Tech and Northern - both resulting in wins as well.

Friday's win secured Carroll's first regular season sweep over their rivals since the 2016-17 season.

The Saints will look to finish the weekend strong, as they aim to take the season series over Montana Western tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the PE Center.