HAVRE— Carroll got a boost from the return of Kurt Paulson and Jeff Hays turned in another stellar performance as the Saints held off a tough MSU-Northern team, 70-65 on Friday night.

Hays scored 24 points, including six in the final minutes, and 10 of his team's final 12 as the Saints (8-2, 20-5) took a half-game lead over L-C State and Westminster, both 7-2, at the top of the Frontier Conference standings.

"It was a great game," Carroll coach Gary Turcott said. "Northern played with a tremendous amount of energy, the crowd was loud and they played really, really hard. We had to play our best basketball in the last five minutes to win."

Paulson returned after missing last week's games because of a separated shoulder and scored six points with two assists in 31 minutes of action. His assist to Hays with 50 seconds left in the game helped the Saints seal their win.

"It was great to have his experience and leadership in the ball game," Turcott said. "He's far from 100 percent but it was nice to have him back."

Carroll didn't have control of the game until Hays knocked down a pair of free throws to give the game its final score with eight seconds remaining.

Carroll held a lead as large as 56-49 mid-way through the second half, but could not pull completely away from the Lights.

Cory Brothers came off the bench to score 17 points for the Lights, many of them in the second half to keep the home team in the game.

Northern (3-7, 12-12) was able to cut the Saints lead to one point twice in the final minute, the final coming on a basket that made it 66-65 with 23.1 seconds remaining.

Hays made a pair of free throws and the Lights turned the ball over on their ensuing possession to let the Saints escape with the win.

The Northern defense was able to slow Carroll's outside shooting. The Saints made just four of 13 3-point attempts in the game and scored 14 points below their season average.

That forced Carroll to go inside where Hays found success, along with Andy Brown (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Ross Gustafson (13 points).

"We were able to get points off penetration and getting looks inside," Turcott said. "That was about the only way we could score."

Carroll plays at the University of Great Falls tonight at 8 p.m.

Carroll (70)

Kurt Paulson 2-4 0-0 6, Jeff Hays 8-11 6-6 24, Sinan Guler 2-7 1-1 5, Andy Brown 6-14 3-5 15, Ross Gustafson 6-8 1-3 13, Travis Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Gage Brumwell 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Dallas Leslie 0-3 5-5 5. Totals 25-48 13-16 70.

Northern (65)

Reid Stovall 3-7 0-0 6, Marcus Wilson 4-6 2-2 10, Jordan Matthews 3-8 0-0 7, Landen Grant 0-4 0-0 0, Leo Bullchild 3-10 0-0 6, Rodrick Carter 3-7 0-0 7, Cory Brothers 5-6 4-4 17, Antonio Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Tim Hutchins 2-2 0-0 4, Dan Brigham 3-3 2-3 8. Totals 26-54 8-9 65.

Halftime— Carroll 39, Northern 29. Rebounds— Carroll 31 (Brown 12), Northern 24 (Stovall 6). Assists— Carroll 15 (Hays 4), Northern 13 (Stovall, Brothers 3). Turnovers— Carroll 15, Northern 13. Totals Fouls— Carroll 15, Northern 17.