CALDWELL, Idaho - The Carroll Men's Basketball team came up short in a road matchup with College of Idaho on Saturday night, falling 66-50 at Elgin Baylor Arena.
The Fighting Saints (4-1) got off to a promising start, but the No. 16-ranked Yotes (3-1) pulled away late in the first half and held off a second-half Carroll push to end their unbeaten start to the season.
After falling behind 3-0 on a Tucker Tiddens three-pointer, Carroll answered quickly. Drew Jones (Puyallup, Wash. / SO) knocked down a three-pointer to give the Saints a 7-5 edge, and he followed it up with a layup off a Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / JR) assist to make it 9-5 in what would prove to be the largest lead of the night for Carroll.
From there, College of Idaho took over. The Yotes outscored the Saints 30-8 over the rest of the half, pushing the lead to as many as 18 points at 35-17 with under a minute to play. Carroll closed the half on a 4-0 run to trim the deficit to 35-21 at the break, but 11 first half turnovers and a 33 percent effort from the floor would leave them with work to do.
The Saints came out of the locker room with energy, opening the second half on a 19-9 run. The team looked completely refocused, as Harrison hit an early jumper, Viktor Bystrom (Linkoping, Sweden / JR) threw down a dunk off a Nate Christy (Spokane, Wash. / SO) assist, Jones connected from deep with an assist from Gavin Gross (West Linn, Ore. / SO), and Isaac Round (Northampton, England / JR) hit a jumper to keep the pressure on. All of a sudden the Saints made things very interesting, as a free throw from Isaac Patik (Casper, Wyo. / JR) with 12:28 remaining cut the Yotes' lead to just four points at 44-40.
College of Idaho responded, however, using a 22-10 run the rest of the way to put the game away.
Bystrom led the Saints for the second straight night, finishing with 13 points on 4-7 shooting while going 5-7 at the line, and adding five rebounds. Harrison and Jones each scored 12 points, with Jones also grabbing five boards and two steals. Round added five points and two assists.
Carroll forced 10 College of Idaho turnovers and came up with seven steals, but turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 19 Yotes points. College of Idaho shot 56.3 percent from the field and outscored the Saints 42-20 in the paint. The Yotes' bench outscored Carroll's 24-5.
Tiddens led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds. Jackson Rogers scored 16 off the bench, hitting 3 of 4 from three-point range, and Dougie Peoples added 12 points and three steals.
Carroll shot 39.1 percent from the field and 4-of-18 from three-point range, but went 10-of-15 at the free throw line in the loss.
Up next for the Saints is one final non-conference game, a Sunday matinee on November 15 against Southern Oregon at the PE Center in Helena.
Be sure to visit www.carrollathletics.com for a preview of that game, and for complete coverage of the Fighting Saints all season long.
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