The Pioneers held a 31-23 halftime lead but shot just 36.4% from the field. Carroll upped their percentage to 53.6% in the second half to outscore the Buccaneers 44-36 in the final 20-minutes.
Sophomore Jason Scheper (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) led Carroll with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Three other Pioneers reached double-digits in scoring, including freshman Nathan Drury (Littleton, Colo./Littleton) with 14 points and junior Ben Hicketheir (Adams, Wis./Adams-Friendship) and senior Kevin Lauer (Sussex, Wis./Hamilton) with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Beloit’s Josh Hinz (Ft. Atkinson, Wis./Ft. Atkinson) led all scorers with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
The win improves Carroll to 16-7 overall, 12-4 in the Midwest Conference while Beloit ends their season 4-19 overall, 3-13 in league play.
The Pioneers will now turn to their attention to the four-team post-season conference tournament, in which they will participate in for the first time since 1995. The Pioneers will enter the tournament as the #2 seed and will face #3 seed, Grinnell College, at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27 at Lawrence University, the 2003-2004 league champions and #1 seed. Lake Forest College rounds out the tournament as the #4 seed.
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