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FULLERTON, Calif. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team picked up their first ranked win of the season, beating No. 20 Hope International 74-70 on Saturday afternoon at the Darling Pavilion. 

Two games into the young season, the Fighting Saints (2-0) remain unbeaten, as they held off a late-game charge by the 20th-ranked Royals (0-1) - an NAIA Quarterfinal team from last year.

While it wasn't necessarily a hot start for the Saints on Saturday, Carroll held the lead several times in the early stages of the game with both teams feeling each other out. The turnover bug hit the Saints near the midway mark of the opening half, and by the seven-minute mark Hope International had opened up a seven-point lead. Carroll battled back in the late stages of the first half, eventually leading to an Isaac Round (Northampton, England / JR) layup that knotted things up at 33-33. A pair of Nate Christy (Spokane, Wash. / SO) free throws in the final minute would give the Saints a slim lead at the break, 35-33.

Round was outstanding in the opening frame, leading all players with 16 points following a quiet night in the season opener against Stanton. Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / JR) also had a strong start to the game, adding-in 11 points while going 4-5 from the floor and 3-4 from downtown.

After posting a game-high 23 points in the season opener, the 2025-26 Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year, Drew Jones (Puyallup, Wash. / SO), was held completely in-check in the half. Jones was 0-4 from the field with three turnovers, but turned things around in a big way over the final 20 minutes.

Led by Jones and Round, the Saints started the second half strong, expanding their lead to nine-points. By the 10-minute mark, their lead ballooned to 13 - the largest lead by either team all game. 

Things were going good for the Saints, until they all of a sudden weren't. HIU began a furious comeback effort, mounting a 17-2 run over a four-minute span to not only tie the game, but grab their first lead since the opening half at 58-56.

The final five minutes saw Carroll complete a comeback of their own, with Round and Jones knocking down a pair of clutch three-pointers, and a combination of Jones and Viktor Bystrom (Linkoping, Sweden / JR) knocking down clutch free throws down the stretch. 

While the Royals continued to find points, Carroll continually responded - holding off one final push to pick up the big time win in their first true road game of the season.

Jones was simply electric in the second half, scoring all 20 of his points in the frame while adding in six assists. Isaac Round followed up his high-scoring first half with seven more points in the second, finishing with a team-high 23 points that also led all scorers.

Carroll, while still quite where they want to be offensively, shot better as a team than they did in last night's win over Stanton, finishing 24-52 from the field, and a much-improved 9-22 from beyond the arc.

The Saints will return to Helena, and turn their attention towards their home opener on Wednesday, where they'll host Bushnell at 7 p.m. in the PE Center.