Overrated. The Carroll College men’s basketball team had 20 minutes to prove that No. 16 Rocky Mountain College was just that Friday night.

They couldn’t have done it much louder.

Senior Chad Vaculin hit back-to-back 3s for the Saints and another midway through the second half as Carroll rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to upset the Bears 80-76 before a raucous crowd of 2,741.

“The second half defense. We were down 10 at half and outscored them by 14 in the second,” said Carroll head coach Gary Turcott. “We had so many kids that stepped up.

“It was such an effort, that is a great team, Rocky.”

After giving the Bears free reign near the basket in the first half, the Saints stepped up their game, establishing themselves in the paint.

Carroll gave up just four points in the first five minutes of that half. Twice the Bears tried to make moves inside, and both times they were ushered toward half court. Instead, they attempted ill-fated shots that turned into Carroll points.

Then, at the 16:58 mark, Carroll’s Chris Kaschmitter picked up a foul, but senior Derek Johnson compensated for it, intercepting the ball on Rocky’s inbound. In a two-man scuffle, Johnson popped the ball out to Vaculin, who was tripped up as he passed the half-court line. Senior Eric Henkel picked up the rolling ball for a layup, bringing the Saints within five, 41-36, with 16:37 on the clock.

When junior Eder Zuniga stole the ball during Rocky’s transition and scored on the fast break, the Bears were forced to call a time out, hoping to stop the bloodletting.

“We made adjustments at half time, but so did they. We took a few things, but it wasn’t anything really immediate,” Turcott said. “Our kids just really, really wanted to win.”

Alvis Dowiels would score for the Bears on the next possession, but it wasn’t enough to stop the surging Saints.

Carroll kept Rocky’s Elijah Swan to a 5-second violation on an inbounds play and Johnson nailed a 3.

A minute and a half later, Vaculin hit his first of two identical 3-pointers that would finally bring the Saints to a tie with their foe, 47-47 with 12:29 left in the game. Both times Vaculin slowly crept to the top of the key as Gage Brumwell laid a pick, holding off two Rocky defenders Vaculin was able to simply shot over.

The Bears got back a little cushion, but Vaculin once again brought the Saints within reach, catching a pass to the left of the 3-point arc and inches in front of a screaming group of Carroll football players. After Vaculin drained it — pulling the Saints back within one — he couldn’t help but yell along with them.

“I was just taking what they gave us. Eric made a great drive and he found me in the corner, I was wide open,” Vaculin said. “All the students were right on top of me and it just felt great to shoot it right in front of them.”

Zuniga followed up Vaculin with a long jump shot, making it 56-55 with 8:34 left and the Saints’ first lead of the game. They never lost it again.

Four Saints scored in double digits while Vaculin led them with 20 points. Johnson added 14, Kaschmitter 12 and Zuniga 11.

Kaschmitter led Carroll with five rebounds and was able to put back a rebound at the 7:40 mark after Brumwell had already rebounded two Carroll shots, including one of his own.

“When Kaschmitter tipped it in, that just showed how much they wanted it,” Turcott said.

The Saints would catch up along the boards during the second half. Both teams finished with 24 rebounds.

Chase Sukut led the Bears with 22 points while Swan and Devin Uskoski added 21 and 19, respectively.

The Saints (20-7, 8-4) have now won five in a row and just one game behind Rocky (21-6, 9-3) in the Frontier Conference.

“Definitely what we had to do was dig down and say that we could do it,” Vaculin said. “We knew what kind of ball we could play, and we just showed what we could do the second half.”

Rocky Mountain — Devin Uskoski 9-11 1-6 19; Elijah Swan 7-12 4-4 21; Chase Sukut 8-11 4-5 22; Nate Miller 3-6 0-1 7; Cooper Warren 0-2 1-2 1; Alvis Dowiels 3-5 0-1 6. Totals 30-47 10-19 76.

Carroll — Chad Vaculin 6-8 5-6 20; Derek Johnson 5-12 3-4 14; Erder Zuniga 5-9 0-0 11; Eric Henkel 1-3 1-2 5; Chris Kaschmitter 6-8 2-2 12; Scott Stockwell 1-1 0-0 3; Josh Saunders 2-8 0-0 5; Gage Brumwell 4-6 0-0 8; Zach Parks 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 31-59 11-14 80.

3-point shots — Rocky Mountain 6 (Swan 3, Sukut 2, Miller). Carroll 7 (Vaculin 3, Johnson, Zuniga, Stockwell, Saunders). Rebounds — Rocky Mountain 24, (Uskoski 7). Carroll 24 (Kaschmitter 5). Total fouls — Rocky Mountain 12, Carroll 20. Fouled out — None.

Reporter Jeff Windmueller: 447-4070 or irsports@helenair.com