The Carthage College men's basketball team (4-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 18th in the Nov. 30 "D3hoops.com" poll, opened play in the CCIW/MIAA Classic on Friday, Dec. 3 with a narrow, 71-70 win over No. 49 Hope College (1-3) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. In the earlier game on Friday, No. 21 Wheaton College (Ill., 5-1) upended Calvin College (3-3), 86-64. On Saturday, Dec. 4, Hope takes on Wheaton (Ill.) at 1 p.m., with Carthage playing Calvin at 3 p.m.
The Carthage-Hope game looked like it might be blowout late in the first half, as the Red Men jumped out to a 15 –point lead, 34-19, at 7:08. The Flying Dutchmen came back with an 11-2 run to close to within four points, 36-32, at 1:02 and trailed by just six points at the break, 38-32. Hope wiped out the Carthage lead in the second half, going up 42-41 at 16:28. The Flying Dutchmen kept the lead for the next 13 minutes and led by as much as eight points, 64-56, at 6:09 and 66-58 at 5:25. Back-to-back dunks by Mitch Thompson closed the gap to four points, 66-62, at 3:44 At that point, Steve Djurickovic wouldn't let Carthage lose. The senior guard scored seven unanswered points between 3:14 and 1:47 to put the Red Men up by three, 69-66. Hope took one more lead, 70-69, with 49 seconds to go on a pair of free throws by David Krombeen, but Djurickovic scored the game-winning basket on a layup with 29 seconds remaining. Hope had a final attempt and used two time outs to set up a play, but Krombeen's jumper at the buzzer missed.
Carthage shot 55 percent (29-53), including a sizzling 64 percent (14-22) in the second half, while Hope shot 48 percent (26-54). Steve Djurickovic (Sr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored a game-high 31 points on 11-of-20 field goals, including three-of-six three-pointers, along with six-of-eight free throws and six assists. With a layup at 9:46 second period, he broke Jason Wiertel's Carthage career-scoring record of 2,113 points (1999-2002). Mitch Thompson (So., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) had 14 points on seven-of-eight from the floor, including four dunks, while Malcom Kelly (So., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) came off the bench to score 11 points. Nate Snuggerud topped Hope with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Will Bowser and Ty Tanis had 13 points each.
"This was a very confusing night," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "I've been doing this for about 90 years, and by now, I shouldn't be confused by anything. Still, I'm perplexed by this basketball team and its ability to play sensationally and then less-than-sensationally in the course of five minutes. Somewhere, along the line, we have to develop some consistency, or we'll end up a really good 17-8 team. Nevertheless, it was a huge win to come back from eight points down in the second half. We were a little fortunate that Hope's last shot didn't go in. The guys we had on the floor the last five minutes left everything on the floor. Malcom Kelly was spectacular—maybe his best game ever. Mitch Thompson also did a great job. Hopefully, this win will springboard us over the next few games."
"I've been lucky to coach two 2,000-point scorers at Carthage," continued Djurickovic. "When I look back on this, down the road, this will be special. Jason Wiertel was here tonight, and he was one of the first guys to hug Steve after the game. Steve idolized Jason and his teammates, so this is special stuff."