The first game of the season and the Carroll College men's basketball team already brought the drama.

Carroll's senior guards Josh Saunders and Chad Vaculin hit 3-pointers with less than 1:20 left in the game and the Saints (1-0) finally broke away from the University of Regina 83-76 Thursday night in the Carroll P.E. Center.

In a back-and-forth contest that saw the Saints rally from a 40-35 halftime deficit, Saunders' 3 from the left corner of the floor broke a 74-74 tie before Regina's Kris Heshka sank two free throws to bring the lead down to one point.

But, Vaculin's long 3 with 42 seconds left put the Saints up 80-76 and let them cruise to the final horn.

"It just came in the offense. They had a big guy on me and he was playing way off," Vaculin said. "I just felt it. It's a good thing it went in."

Vaculin followed it up by rebounding a missed Regina field goal and scored the last three points on four free-throw attempts.

The all-Frontier Conference selection finished with 15 points and seven assists to just one turnover, but the Saints saw their biggest surge from new transfer Chris Medina.

The junior guard from Salt Lake Community College could do just about everything for the Saints, leading the squad with 20 points and three steals.

He also scored the team's first eight points -- six of them on 3s -- as Carroll struggled to answer Regina's quick-shooting offense.

"It was a lot different," Medina said. "It's kind of hard trying to feel your way through the offense.

"With all the coaching and assisting around here, they're helping me find my game."

The new recruit had a limited time to figure out Carroll's offense and defense since a new rule prohibited Frontier Conference teams from practicing before Oct. 1.

He spent the summer playing by himself and basically "practicing blind."

It didn't seem to show as he lit up the scoreboard and even drew two charging fouls in a rough game that had Regina's bench getting a technical and Vaculin taking a seat with blood dripping from his knee.

Of course, it took the Saints a while to figure out a way to beat Regina, a team they easily defeated 82-69 last season.

The answer, associate head coach Brandon Veltri said, came on defense.

"We're real fortunate to win that game. With about 10 minutes left in the second half we jumped into a zone defense and just kind of stymied them for a few minutes," he said.

That allowed the Saints to come back from a 74-70 lead and shut down junior guard Jeff Lukomski.

Lukomski blasted the Saints with four 3-pointers in the first half for 14 points and finished 6-of-13 from behind the arc for a team-high 20 points in the game.

Saunders finished with 14 points for the Saints and Chris Kaschmitter had 12. Vaculin led them with seven of the team's 32 rebounds.

Heshka and Jamal Williams added 16 points apiece for Regina. Heshka also added five rebounds to lead the squad's 25.

The Saints play again on Nov. 1 at Eastern Washington University.

REGINA (76) - Lukomski 7-19 0-0 20, Heshka 6-9 4-7 16, Williams 5-10 5-7 16, Schubach 1-3 0-0 3, McFarlen 3-7 1-1 7, Nostedt 0-1 0-0 0, Bates 4-6 0-0 10, Tallman 2-3 0-0 4, Totals: 28-58 10-15 76.

CARROLL (83) - Garland 4-9 0-0 9, Kaschmitter 5-6 2-3 12, Vasculin 2-9 9-10 15, Saunders 5-9 1-2 14, Medina 8-16 1-2 20, Stockwell 1-3 0-0 2, Tanascu 2-3 1-3 7, Godecke 0-1 0-0 0, Parks 2-4 0-0 4, 29-60 14-20 83

Regina 40 36 -- 76

Carroll 35 48 -- 83

3 Point Goals: Regina 10-20 (Lukomski 6-13) Carroll 11-23 (Saunders 3-5, Medina 3-6) Rebounds: Regina 25 (Heshka 5) Carroll 32 (Vasculin 7) Assists: Regina 9 (Lukomski 3) Carroll 19 (Vasculin 7) Total Fouls: Regina 21, Carroll 20. Technical Fouls: Regina 1, Carroll 0. Att:1323.

Assistant Sports Editor Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@helenair.com