By Carthage Sports Information Director Steve Marovich
After flirting with an upset of No. 19 Augustana College (Ill.) last Saturday, the Carthage College men's basketball team (6-8, 1-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) stunned No. 1 North Central College (13-1, 2-1 CCIW), 64-53, on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. For the Red Men, it was their second win in five tries, going back to 2005, over the nation's number-one team. Carthage knocked off No. 1 Wheaton College (Ill.), 55-54, on Jan. 21, 2009.
The first half was close with six ties and four lead changes. North Central's largest lead was five points, 24-19, at 3:02, but the Red Men erased that to take a 28-27 lead with 41 seconds remaining. The Cardinals led by two points at the break, 30-28. North Central inched out to an eight-point lead, 45-37, at 12:51 second half. Carthage scored eight unanswered points to tie the game, 45-45, at 11:02, and a layup by Kevin Sykes Jr. at 9:16 put the Red Men up to stay, 47-45. With Carthage leading by three, 51-48, North Central's leading scorer, Derek Raridon injured his shoulder on a rebound attempt and left the game. Cardinals coach Todd Raridon raced out onto the court and was called for technical foul, and the Red Men Ellis Matthews made the first-of-two free throws. A three-pointer from the right corner by Matthews at 1:35 put Carthage up by seven, 58-51, and the Red Men went on to win by 11 points, 64-53.
Carthage shot 43 percent (22-51), but just three-of-13 from three-point range, while North Central shot just 39 percent (20-51), including three-of-17 three-pointers. The Red Men got to the free-throw line 26 times and made 17, while the Cardinals were 10-of16 . North Central had a 38-31 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 17 times to just 10 for Carthage.
Three Carthage players scored in double figures. Donte Logan (So., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) led the way with 16 points on seven-of-nine field goals, along with five assists. Tyler Pierce (Sr., Westmont, Ill.) score 14 points on five-of-14 shooting, and Mitch Thompson (Sr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) added 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Derek Raridon had 18 points on seven-of-13 from the floor, including three-of-four three-pointers, before leaving the game. Landon Gamble added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
"We put 40 minutes together tonight," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and that's what we've been striving for. Give our guys credit. They hung in there, they persevered and got the win. We've been in a little short on the executing side of things of late, and tonight the guys really dug in hard and played hard for each other. We needed this. We've been a little unlucky, as well as un-good. We'll take it and get ready to play Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday. Kiston Lee's play in the first half and Marlon Senior's floor game were the keys to this one. If Donte Logan can score 15 or so points, like he did tonight, we'll be fine. It was also a heck of job by Tyler Pierce. He got his man off his feet several times tonight and made the basket. North Central is still an outstanding basketball team. They play every possession with a purpose."
On Saturday, Jan. 12, Carthage travels to Bloomington, Ill., to take on conference-opponent and No. 22 Illinois Wesleyan University (11-3, 3-0 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. contest at the Shirk Center.