(Editor’s note: Carroll College athletics release)
LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 10 Carroll College men’s basketball team held eighth-ranked Lewis-Clark scoreless for nearly seven minutes to start the game, building an 11-0 lead that they would not relinquish en route to a 65-55 road win in a top-10 matchup on the road in Lewiston, Idaho.
The Saints scored on three of their first four possessions to go up 7-0 and built the lead to 11-0 with 13:35 to play before Darius Alexander got the Warriors on the board with 13:08 to play. The bucket was a wakeup call for LCSC, and the Warriors battled to cut the lead to 19-15 with 8:19 to play in the half.
Carroll extended the lead to 37-25, but Andre McCowan hit a bucket with four seconds remaining to cut the lead to 37-27 at the half.
Lewis-Clark cut the lead to 45-40 with 13:51 to play before both teams went cold. Neither team scored a field goal until the 8:07 mark, but the Saints built their lead back to 53-41 with 6:42 to play.
LCSC cut the lead to 59-59 with just 0:48 to play, but the Saints went 6-7 from the line over the final minute, and Carroll closed out the 10-point win.
“That was a great effort by the fellas,” head coach Carson Cunningham said. “Lewis-Clark State is a tough team to deal with, talented, skilled, and tough. We’re grateful to have been able to come out of there with a win. I’m happy for the guys. They are working hard, battling.”
The Saints were 21-46(45.7 percent) from the field and 3-9 (33.3 percent) from the three-point line. Carroll.
Ryan Imhoff notched his second double-double in as many games with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Match Burnham added 15 points and Matt Wyman scored 11. Ife Kalejaiye was perfect on the game going 2-2 from the field and 4-4 from the line while Lorel Johnson was almost as impressive going 4-5 from the field for nine points.
Lewis-Clark, who averages 87 points per game, was held under 62 for the first time this season. Trea Thomas was the only LCSC player to score in double figures with 13.
The win, paired with a Montana Western loss to Rocky Mountain, moves the Saints into a tie with the Bulldogs for second place, a game back of LCSC, at 5-3 in league play. There is still plenty of basketball on the slate as Cunningham is quick to remember.
“That’s just game eight of an eighteen game conference slate,” he said. “We need to learn from it and keep trying to grow.”
Carroll plays a split road-home week next week, traveling to play Montana Tech Thursday in Butte before hosting Rocky Mountain Saturday at the PE Center.
