By Joseph Myers, NAIA Media Relations

Kansas City, Mo. - (Box Score) No. 1-seeded Carroll (Mont.) used a strong first-half shooting performance to build a lead and cruise to a 82-69 victory over eighth-seeded Mount Mercy (Iowa) in a first-round game Wednesday afternoon at the 2017 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship at Municipal Auditorium.

The Fighting Saints will now play No. 4-seeded SAGU (Texas) in the second round Friday at 10:45 a.m. CST. SAGU (24-9) advanced by defeating Talladega (Ala.), 81-75, earlier Wednesday. It's the second straight year Carroll has advanced to the second round, as the Fighting Saints got to the quarterfinals in 2016 before falling to Campbellsville (Ky.), 83-67.

"This was a fun atmosphere and I was happy for our guys to get a first-round win," said Carroll head coach Carson Cunningham. "They performed well on a national stage and it's really hard to win a single game at this event."

Carroll (28-5) - the champions of the Frontier Conference tournament - trailed 15-13 with 14:32 to go in the first half after Mount Mercy's Derik Gogg made a free throw, but the Fighting Saints got a basket from Ryan Imhoff to tie the game at 15 and a 3-pointer by Zach Taylor to take the lead for good at 18-15 with 13:14 remaining before halftime.

Taylor, the Frontier Conference Player of the Year, was a thorn in Mount Mercy's side for the entire first half, scoring 17 points in the opening 20 minutes on 7-of-11 shooting, including making three of his five 3-point attempts. Taylor also had five assists, three rebounds and two steals in the opening half and Imhoff pitched in 12 points in just 8:29 of work.

Carroll went on a 15-2 run to open up a 28-17 lead with 7:57 to go before halftime before taking a 45-32 advantage into the locker room at halftime. The Fighting Saints were 16-fo-30 (53.3 percent) from the field in the first half, including 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from behind the 3-point line, while limiting Mount Mercy (21-12) to only 9-of-24 shooting (37.5 percent) and forcing the Mustangs - who were making their first NAIA National Championship appearance - into eight turnovers.

The Fighting Saints maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half, as Mount Mercy never got closer than eight points over the final 20 minutes. Mount Mercy was within 66-58 with 6:44 to go following a free throw by Jake Anderson, but Carroll went on a 10-1 run over the next 3:20 to go up 76-59 and salt the game away.

"(We) worked hard on the defensive end of the floor and our bench played key minutes for the win," said Cunningham. "Now we have to be ready for the next game. We hope there's a lot more basketball to be played in Kansas City for our club."

Taylor - who now has 1,996 career points and is No. 2 on Carroll's all-time scoring list - finished the game with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting, along with nine assists, five rebounds and two steals to lead all scorers. Steven Helm added 15 and two steals off the bench, Matt Wyman had 14 (on 5-of-8 shooting) and nine rebounds and Imhoff had 12 in only 12:43 before fouling out with 5:18 remaining. Carroll, which has won seven straight games, hit 26 of its 50 shots (52 percent) and was 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from 3-point range in the victory.

Despite the opening-round loss, Mount Mercy head coach Aaron Jennings was proud of the Mustangs' season.

"Making it here in our first year was a big accomplishment," said Jennings. "To be picked 12th in the preseason conference poll and to prove them wrong was something good our guys worked for. Every day, we worked together. It's disappointing to lose our first game, but I'm extremely proud of our guys."

Gogg paced Mount Mercy with 15 points (on 6-of-9 shooting) and three rebounds off the bench. A trio of Mustangs - Anderson, Chris Ford and Sheawn Bedford, Jr. - all had 12 in the loss. Ford also had four assists and three rebounds and Bedford, Jr. grabbed four rebounds for the Mustangs, who made 21-of-51 (41.2 percent) from the field and 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) from behind the arc.

No. 8 Seed Mount Mercy (21-11)
The Mustangs are one of four teams from the Heart of America Athletic Conference to make the national championship tournament… Mustangs were runner-up in Heart of America Conference tourney, lost to No. 1 seed and second-ranked William Penn 112-100… This marked the first-ever appearance in this event… Mustangs are 6-1 in games of five points or less this year… Mount Mercy ends season 21-12.

No. 1 Carroll (Mont.) (28-5)
Carroll made its 11th national championship tournament appearance – second consecutive under head coach Carson Cunningham, when the club advanced to the quarterfinals at the 2016 championship.… The Saints won the Frontier Conference regular-season and tournament championships to earn an automatic bid into the field of 32… The Fighting Saints moved to 6-5 in the first round and 10-10 overall… Sophomore Ife Imhoff has scored in double-digits in 29 out of his 31 appearances… Zach Taylor is the lone senior on the squad and earned Frontier Conference Player of the Year honors and was named to the Frontier Conference First-Team for the second-consecutive season…. Matt Wyman has reached double-digits for the second-consecutive contest and for the 14th total time this season… Taylor splashed 17 of his 21 points in the first half… Taylor is just four points shy of 2,000 career points, totaling 1,996…Carroll has dished out double-figure assists in seven-consecutive games – totaling 10+ assists in 31 games this season… Carroll has won seven consecutive games… CU advances to the second round for the second consecutive year and fourth time overall.