HELENA — Match Burnham scored 19 points and Ife Kalejaiye added 17 as the Carroll College men’s basketball team defeated the University of Providence 72-63 Thursday evening. The Argos got 16 points from Matthew Brooks-McGregor in the loss.
Carroll made the most of its offensive opportunities, shooting 56 percent from the floor, and held an athletic UP team to just 8-of-29 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Carroll made 10 of its 16 3s in the victory.
Still, Providence jumped out to the early lead behind a 3-point play from Steven Daho-Clark and buckets from Jared Schultz and Jack Taylor. Taylor’s 3-point play with 14:24 remaining in the first half put the Argos ahead 11-9, but Burnham knocked down two of his five 3-pointers to push the Saints ahead, 22-16 at the 11:13 mark.
Sergio Barkley led a UP charge, scoring five of seven points to give the Argos a 23-22 lead. Brooks-McGregor’s 3-pointer made it 26-22 Argos with five minutes to play.
Carroll again chipped away at the lead, as Alejandro Santos Piqueras hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Saints a 37-33 lead at halftime.
Matt Wyman made the first two baskets of the second half, extending the Carroll lead to eight, but Brooks-McGregor and the Argos rallied to tie the contest at 48 with 11:46 to play. Carroll went on an 11-0 run to help close the game.
The Saints tallied 21 assists in the win, seven from Santos and six from Ryan Imhoff. Imhoff added 12 points and five rebounds, while Santos had six points and seven rebounds, as well.
Carroll (19-4 overall, 7-4 in Frontier Conference play) welcomes MSU-Northern to the P.E. Center on Saturday.
Providence fell to 5-6 in league play with the loss.
