LEWISTON, Idaho — The Texas Wesleyan men's basketball team fell 85-58 to Carroll College (Mont.) in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament on Friday evening.
 
The loss eliminates them from the tournament as they finish the season 10-6 overall. Carroll is now 18-7 and will play Arizona Christian on Saturday, March 13.
 
Senior Vydal Bradford led the Rams with 16 points. Senior David Shepard contributed 13 points, and senior Sebastian Karwoski added 10 points. Junior Christopher Coley had a team high 7 rebounds.
 
The Rams kept up the pace in the first half shooting 42.9 percent on the floor. The Saints took a 11-4 run in the final three minutes of the period to lead 41-33 at the break after shooting 48.6 from the field.
 
The first half also saw what would be TXWES' only trey as they shot 1 for 10 from beyond the arc but went 8 for 8 at the line.
 
TXWES cut the deficit to two points, opening the first half with a 6-point run. However, Carroll went on a 12-point run of their own to take their largest lead of the game.
 
The Rams had trouble finding the basket, not making a shot on the floor for over 11 minutes aside from two good free throws. By that time, the Saints extended their lead to 25 points with a little over five minutes to play.
 
TXWES would finish the game shooting 35.6 percent from the field, making just one three-pointer of 18 tries and shot 68. 2 percent at the stripe.
 
Carroll shot 54.8 on the floor, made 7 treys and went 10 for 12 at the line. The Saints were led by Jovan Sljivancanin with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

This season the Rams averaged 83.8 points per game, shot 44.7 percent from the field. 36.8 from deep and 67.3 from the free throw line. They ranked No. 12 in the NAIA in steals per game at 9.2 a contest.