This season hasn't turned out the way the University of Montana Western had expected.

Since the beginning of the year they've lost four players, including three starters, to injury. One assistant coach left for Miles City, another was diagnosed with cancer.

"Our kids have been through a lot of adversity," said Western head coach Steve Keller. "We're down to about eight guys right now."

And, despite being short-handed and going through all the trouble this season, the Bulldogs have had an incredible amount of success.

"We're 8-6 in the league and we'll end with a winning record no matter what," Keller said.

Western (15-13 overall) even knocked off Westminster College, the Frontier Conference leader and former No. 1-ranked team in the nation, during the regular season.

Now, there's one more thing the Bulldogs would like to accomplish.

"It would be a great boost to our program to knock off Carroll College," Keller said.

The fourth-seeded Saints will host fifth-seeded Western in their first Frontier Conference playoff game Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Carroll P.E. Center.

The Saints won both regular season games by a slim margin. They defeated the Bulldogs 99-87 in overtime the first time the two teams met on Jan. 10, then held them off 87-85 in a shootout on Feb. 5.

"They have as much pure firepower as anybody in the league," said Saints head coach Gary Turcott. "They have two tremendous shooters and a great low-post player.

"They're scrappy; they don't give up," Turcott added. "They keep scoring points."

Which is something Carroll is looking to stop. The Saints (19-6, 9-5) are coming off a 67-55 loss last week that dropped them from a possible second place to fourth heading into the postseason.

It's one-and-done for both teams, and they hope to pull off a few upsets in order to win the conference title and take a team to the NAIA national tournament.

"We're going to be loose and we know we've played with them and we're going to play as hard as we can play," Keller said. "The pressure's on them."

Much of that pressure will be to stop Western's three top scorers.

Chad Myers is the lone senior for the Bulldogs and has been leading them on the court with 14.5 points per game. Much of that scoring comes from behind the 3-point arc, where he is 95-for-234 (41 percent).

While Myers is usually the first to pull the trigger, fellow guard Terry Hauser drained 7-of-9 3-pointers against the Saints in their last meeting and led the squad with 28 points. He's averaging 12.3 ppg.

Add in JaRon Brown and his 13.7 ppg from the post position, and the Bulldogs have a strong triple-threat that had the Saints scrambling to make defensive stops this season.

"They have a lot of ways to score," Turcott said. "They can do if off of penetration or they can shoot it 28 feet."

The Saints aren't without their own big-time scorers. Like the Bulldogs, they like to work their way inside by threatening with their perimeter shots.

Carroll leads the NAIA in 3-pointers made per game with 9.6. They're also sixth in accuracy with a 41 percent completion rate.

"We've just got to make sure they don't hit a lot of 3s on us," Keller said. "I think the key in crunch time is keep Chad Vaculin from getting the ball."

Vaculin, a senior guard, has averaged 13.9 ppg and has a tendency to take control of the game when things get close. Sometimes that means driving to the basket, and other times ditching the ball off to the Saints' leading scorer, freshman Andy Garland.

Garland has averaged 15.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, leading a total of four scorers into double figures. Senior guard Josh Saunders adds 12.4 ppg while junior Chris Medina puts in 11.52 ppg.

While they're favored to make it three in a row, the Saints know they still have a lot on their shoulders.

"I think so much of the game right now is mental because everybody in the league is tired," Turcott said. "Now it's just about the team that can muster up all their energy and focus.

"Some people are coming off a win, some people are coming off a loss. But it doesn't matter because it's all brand new starting Thursday."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller

@helenair.com