The Carthage College men's basketball team (1-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost both games of the Friday-Saturday, Nov. 21-22 Carthage Classic I at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. After losing to the University of St. Francis (Ill., 3-1), 70-57, on Friday, Nov. 21 in the first round, the Red Men fell to Wisconsin-La Crosse (2-1), 80-67, in the Saturday, Nov. 22 consolation game. Aurora University (2-0) edged Wisconsin-La Crosse (0-2), 70-68, in the other first-round game. St. Francis (Ill., 5-1) defeated Aurora (2-1), 63-56, in Saturday's title game.
In the consolation loss to UW-La Crosse, Carthage fell behind by nine points early the first half, 13-4, at 17:01 but came back to take a two-point lead, 17-15, at 11:24. The Eagles took another none-point lead, 34-25, at 4:20 and led by four at the break, 34-30. The second half was all Eagles. After the Red Men pulled to within two, 37-35, at 17:30, Wisconsin-La Crosse opened up a 14-point lead, 60-46, at 9:31. Carthage got it back to 10 points, 60-50, at 8:33, but a 14-4 Eagles run put UW-La Crosse up by 23, 77-54, at 4:10. Wisconsin-La Crosse wound up with a 13-point victory, 80-67.
The Eagles shot 47 percent (25-53), including 15-of-29 three-pointers, while the Red Men shot 43 percent (21-49), including eight-of-18 from three-point range. Wisconsin-La Crosse connected on 15-of-17 free throws, while Carthage converted 17-of-25. The Red Men won the rebounding battle, 34-26.
Skylar Cameron led the Eagles with a game-high 31 points on eight-of-13 field goals, including seven-of-11 three-pointers and a perfect eight-of-eight free throws. Cale Zuiker had 27 points on 10-of-17 field goals, including five-of-10 three-pointers. Ellis Matthews (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) led the Red Men with 15 points on five-of-six shooting, including four-of-four from three-point range. Reese Herth (Sr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) had 14 points, and Mike Kastel (Sr., St. Charles, Ill./Exeter (N.H.) Academy) added 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
"We need to be more accountable," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and it's all on me. That fact that they shot 15-of-29 three-pointers is a lack of preparation on my part. It was a messy basketball game. We're a little bit uncomfortable on the offensive end, and that puts you in difficult positions. We're asking people to do more than they're capable of doing. That's also on me. We'll get that straightened out. We're not doing a good enough of screening or cutting, and that's also putting us in a difficult position. I don't have a magic wand. Wisconsin-Platteville on Tuesday and Washington (Mo.) on Friday are as good or better than the teams we saw in the last two days. We're not talented enough to just play—we have to play right and play for each other."
Carthage travels to Platteville, Wis., on Tuesday, Nov. 25 to take on Wisconsin-Platteville in an 8 p.m. game at Williams Fieldhouse.