HELENA, Mont. – The Rocky Mountain College men's basketball team found itself in an early hole and couldn't recover as they lost at No. 10 Carroll 90-63 on Saturday night at the Carroll PE Center.
 
Rocky (13-8, 5-5 Frontier) was looking for a second straight win in Helena, but Carroll (18-4, 6-4) had other ideas. The Saints scored 15 straight points to open a 17-3 lead less than five minutes into the game. The Battlin' Bears got back within eight in the half, but the Carroll lead hit its largest margin of 29 heading into halftime.
 
The Battlin' Bears made just seven baskets in the first half. They responded to shoot 57.1 percent in the second half to help them finish the game at 45.1 percent. Rocky hit on 10 of 25 from beyond the arc.
 
Chad Kananen led Rocky with 12 points behind a 4 of 6 effort on 3-pointers. Jared Samuelson added 11 points and four rebounds.
 
Carroll had the offensive game going as the home squad shot 63.0 percent from the floor behind 50 points in the paint. Rocky committed 18 turnovers for 21 Carroll points and the Battlin' Bears were outrebounded, 32-23.
 
Austin Payne scored eight points off the bench for Rocky. Satchel McDonald led the team with three assists.
 
Carroll had four players score in double figures, including a game-high 18 from Matt Wyman.
 
Rocky now sits in a tie for fourth-place in the Frontier, two games off the lead with eight games to play. They have six of the remaining games in the Fortin Education Center, including on Thursday against the team they are tied with, MSU-Northern.