LEWISTON, Idaho – Carroll College's defense was suffocating in the early going and the Saints shot out to an 11-0 lead before the Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team started to solve the puzzle Saturday afternoon at the Activity Center.
 
Even though the No. 8 Warriors, clawed their way to within a couple shots on a number of occasions, the 10^th-ranked Saints always had an answer in the 65-55 Frontier Conference victory.
 
"We got a taste of what they're capable of defensively," Warrior coach Brandon Rinta said, "especially the first 10 minutes of the game … if not the first 20.
 
"We weren't where we needed to be defensively coming out of the gate."
 
The high-powered Warrior offense was stymied by the Saints for nearly eight minutes. It wasn't until 13:08 remained in the first half that Darius Alexander lit the scoreboard for LC.
 
"It was so difficult for us to get to the rim," said Rinta, whose team lost for the first time at home this season and heads into back-to-back weekend road trips with a 17-3 overall record, 6-2 in league. "We just weren't shooting it good enough to loosen up that defense tonight."
 
The Warriors have made a living off of strong second halves this season. And it looked as if this might be yet another comeback when Trea Thomas converted a three-point play with 13:51 to cut the Saints' lead to five, with 13:51 to play. Carroll (17-3, 5-3) responded with an 8-1 run to knock the Warriors back on their heels again.
 
"They're so efficient that if you get down, it's just hard to claw your way back into the game," Rinta said. "We were not in a very good offensive rhythm tonight."
 
Three more times, the Warriors would cut the lead to six but every time the Saints responded.
 
"Our guys battled back in the second half," Rinta said. "They made some adjustments; continued to do the right thing."
 
Thomas was the only LC player to finish in double figures with 13. Dana Abe, who two crowd-pleasing dunks, had eight with Derrick White and Alexander finishing with seven each. Jeremy Franklin was the rebounding leader with seven.