The Carroll men put together an impressive performance at the PE center Thursday night, soundly beating No. 23 Lewis-Clark State College 72-53 thanks to some strong inside play.

"We had great defense all game," said Carroll coach Gary Turcott. "I thought we really came out to start the second half and played well."

Derek Johnson had 17 points to lead the Saints, while Eder Zuniga had seven and Eric Henkel chipped in 12.

LCSC's Mike Gordy had 20 points to lead all scorers, while Brian Duckworth added 10 points.

The Saints' outside shooting suffered early, as Carroll went 0-6 from 3-point land in the first half.

The Saints got up on the Warriors early in the game. Chris Kaschmitter got two big blocks in a row, and continued to put his stamp on the game defensively.

LCSC struggled to get baskets in the first 10 minutes, sinking just two field goals. However, as the half wound down, the Warriors were able to cut the 10-point lead down to six. Going into halftime, the score was 28-22.

The second half was all Carroll. The Saints scored the first 10 points of the half before Gordy hit a trey. However, Henkel scored off an offensive rebound at the other end of the floor with 13:40 to go in the half, and Carroll never looked back, building the lead for the next 10 minutes.

Carroll's second-half shooting was much better. The Saints went 4-of-9 on three pointers, while their overall field goal percentage improved as well.

"(Chad) Vaculin and Johnson had really solid games." said Turcott. "Off the bench, (senior post Gage) Brumwell really came in and played some big minutes. We had great team balance today."

The Saints had a 20-point lead for most of the second half, and were able to slow down the pace of the game, bleeding the clock.

"We had really good play from a lot of guys," said Turcott. "A lot of guys are contributing."

Firmly in control of the game, Carroll coasted into its sixth consecutive conference win, moving its record to 9-3.

The Saints will play again Saturday when they host No. 24 Westminster College at 8 p.m. The game could be the conference championship, depending on the outcome of other conference games.

Turcott said his team is going to have to find a way to slow down Westminster's two-time conference MVP Danny Reeder.

"They have a bunch of good players, and (Reeder) makes them all great," he said. "That's the big challenge, figuring out a way to stop him. We have 48 hours to figure that out."

Lewis-Clark State -- Jon Daly 1-4 0-4 2; Mike Gordy -12 2-7 20; Brian Duckworth 1-6 7-7 10; Rob Comer 2-5 0-0 5; J.R. Gordon 2-80-0 4; Karl Stedman 1-2 1-3 3; Max Papendieck 1-2 2-2 4; Caleb Orr 1-1 0-0 2; Justin Fraser 0-4 0-0 0; Andrew Packwood 1-3 1-3 3. Totals 18-47 13-26 53.

Carroll -- Chad Vaculin 3-9 4-4 10; Derek Johnson 6-14 4-5 17; Eder Zuniga 3- 10 1-1 7; Eric Henkel 5-9 0-0 12; Chris Kaschmitter 2-3 0-0 4; Scott STockwell 3-3 0-0 7; Josh Saunders 1-6 0-0 3; Kellen Hasquet 0-1 0-0 0; Gage Brumwell 5-6 0-1 0-0 10; Zach Parks 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 29-63 8-10 72.

3-point shots -- Lewis-Clark State 4 (Gordy 2, Duckworth, Comer). Carroll 6 (Johnson, Zuniga, Henkel 2, Stockwell, Saunders). Rebounds -- Lewis-Clark State 26 (Gordon 6). Carroll 38 (Johnson 9). Total fouls -- Lewis-Clark State 16, Carroll College 23. Fouled out -- Parks, Comer.

Reporter Jason Scott: 447-4070 or irsports@helenair.com