MADISON, S.D. - The Carroll College Men's Basketball team bounced back from a Friday night loss with an 83-76 win over Dakota State on Saturday evening at the DSU Fieldhouse.

The Fighting Saints (16-7, 14-4) entered the night knowing they would need a win to remain in contention for the Frontier Conference championship, and came away with a hard-earned seven-point win over the Trojans.

Following a good start to the game with an early 7-2 run, the Saints ran into some offensive struggles near the midpoint of the first half. Spurred by a series of uncharacteristic Carroll turnovers, the Trojans flipped the momentum and grew a lead as large as 12 points at 23-11. Dakota State shot the ball well throughout the majority of the half, having an answer for nearly every Carroll advance. On the glass, the Trojans provided themselves with plenty of second chance opportunities, coming away with eight offensive boards to Carroll's one over the first 20 minutes. 

The Saints did manage to even things back up briefly at 32-32, but DSU would close the half out with an 8-1 run to lead at the break, 40-33.

Coming out of the half, Kellen Harrison (Bozeman, Mont. / SO) provided the spark to ignite Carroll's comeback effort. The standout sophomore was on fire, coming away with a pair of steals and scoring 11 points over the first four minutes to even things up at 48-48.

The teams battled for the next five minutes, exchanging the lead several times with neither able to create much separation. A Lorence Dela Cruz (Winnipeg, Manitoba / SR) three-pointer at the 11-minute mark, however, would put the Saints in front for good.

Carroll was outstanding down the stretch. For the second-straight night, they would work their way into a seven-point lead late in the game - one this time they refused to relinquish.

A pair of freshmen were key components at the end of the night, as Nate Christy (Spokane, Wash. / FR) was clutch at the stripe down the stretch, while Drew Jones (Puyallup, Wash. / FR) buried a pair of shots from range that killed any Trojan momentum that was building.

Christy was impressive all night, leading the Saints with a team-high 19 points and six rebounds, while going 9-11 from the free throw line.

Isaiah Crane (Portland, Ore. / R-SO) finished with 17 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Harrison ended his night with 15 points, but was most impressive on the defensive end with another six steal performance.

The win secured a season sweep over the Trojans, and keeps Carroll in second place in the Frontier Conference standings. The Saints are knotted with Bellevue, two games back of Rocky with four games remaining.

Carroll will host its final two home games of the season next weekend at the PE Center, taking on Providence on Friday and MSU-Northern on Saturday, with both games tipping at 7 p.m.