The first half of Valley City State's season opener was one to remember. The second half, not so much.

VCSU freshman Marcus Week goes in for a layup Friday. (Bailey Goolsbey/VCSU)

The Viking men's basketball team was impressive in the first 20 minutes, building a 40-27 lead over Carroll College at the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse. But the Saints rallied back in the second half for a 63-60 victory, spoiling the Viking season opener.

Junior guard Riley West led VCSU with 17 points in his debut as a Viking. Quin Peterson added nine points and Marcus Weeks had eight points. Both Peterson and Weeks scored all their points in VCSU's big first half. Jayden Ferguson added six points and Austin Rambow had five points and nine rebounds off the bench.

The Vikings shot 53 percent (17-for-32) in the first half, but managed just 15 percent (5-for-34) in the second half. A pair of free throws by West put the Vikings ahead 56-46 with 8:43 remaining, but Carroll College scored the next 12 points and finished the game on a 17-4 run.

The Saints were led by 17 points from Zach Taylor, including 14 of which came in the second half. Ryan Imhoff added 13 points for Carroll College, which shot 41 percent (21-for-51) from the field.

The Vikings shot 4-for-24 on 3-pointers and 12-for-17 on free throws. Carroll College went 4-for-12 on 3-pointers and 17-for-25 on free throws.

The two teams were tied at 19-19 with 8:38 remaining in the first half before the Vikings went on a 19-5 run to build their biggest lead of the game at 38-24 late in the first half.

Up next: Valley City State (0-1) hosts Oglala Lakota College for two games at 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.