In a tight race for the top four places in the Frontier Conference and home-court advantage in the playoffs, the Carroll College men just slipped.

The Saints (17-5 overall, 7-4 conference)couldn't hold on to a 34-29 half-time lead Thursday night, dropping a contest on the road with Lewis-Clark State College 61-56.

The Saints now trail MSU-Northern (18-7, 7-3) for second place and are tied with Rocky Mountain College (18-8, 7-4) for third.

Rocky lost to top-ranked Westminster (24-3, 10-2) Thursday while Northern hosts Montana Western (13-12, 6-5) tonight.

Carroll now has three games left on the season, including another road contest at Westminster on Saturday. The Saints will finish their season on a homestand next weekend against the University of Great Falls and Northern.

Carroll will have to do better than it did against the Warriors, who held the Saints to 35 percent shooting in the second half, 40 percent for the night.

Saints junior forward Chris Medina, who was questionable for the game after suffering a sprained ankle last week, led Carroll's shooters, scoring 14 points while freshman Andy Garland and senior Chad Vaculin each added 11.

LCSC's Tanner McIntosh scored 18 points, Brian Duckworth added 12 and Curtis Allen 10 to lead the Warriors' charge.

LCSC's defense kept Carroll to just 14 points in the paint and the Saints turned to their 3-point shooters instead. The team finished 10-of-21 from behind the arc while the Warriors attempted just seven, completing two.

Carroll gave up 20 turnovers to 14 assists. They outrebounded their opponent 30-24.

Carroll College 34 22 - 56

LCSC 29 32 - 61

Carroll - Andy Garland 3-7 3-4 11, Chris Kaschmitter 2-6 1-4 5, Chad Vaculin 3-5 0-0 8, Josh Saunders 4-11 0-0 11, Chris Medina 5-11 2-2 14, Scott Stockwell 1-5 2-4 5, Zach Parks 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 19-47 8-14 56.

LCSC - Tanner McIntosh 9-15 0-0 18, James Craft 2-4 0-0 4, Terrell Wallace 1-4 0-0 2, Brian Duckworth 4-6 3-4 12, Curtis Allen 3-7 4-4 10, Drew Arnold 3-6 0-0 6, Alex Mallari 2-3 0-0 5, Andrew Packwood 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 25-50 9-10 61.

3-pointers - Carroll 10-21 (Garland 2-4, Vaculin 2-4, Saunders 3-5, Medina 2-5, Stockwell 1-2), LCSC 2-7 (Duckworth 1-2, Mallari 1-2). Rebounds - Carroll 30 (Kaschmitter 10), LCSC 24 (Allen 7). Assists - Carroll 14 (Garland 4, Vaculin 4), LCSC 17 (Wallace 8). Turnovers - Carroll 20, LCSC 14. Fouls - Carroll 14, LCSC 17. Foul outs - None. Technicals - None.