The Carthage College men's basketball team (8-5, 1-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday night, Jan. 8 with a 73-52 win over CCIW-opponent and No. 18 Illinois Wesleyan University (10-3, 1-1 CCIW) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The win left the Red Men in a six-way for second place at 1-1 in league play.
Carthage never trailed in the game. The Red Men took a 10-point lead, 24-14, at 9:46 and extended that to as much as 17 points, 33-16, at 6:55. Carthage led by 13 points at the break, 37-24, as the Red Men out-shot the Titans 47 percent (14-30) to a 26 percent (7-27). Illinois Wesleyan connected on just one-of-11 from three-point range in the first half. Carthage edged out to a 23-point lead in the second half, 53-30, at 13:53, and the Titans never got any closer than 13 points after that, 59-46, at 7:11. The Red Men cruised to a 21-point victory, 73-52.
Carthage shot 46 percent (25-55) while limiting Illinois Wesleyan to 30 percent from the floor (14-46). The Red Men had a commanding, 41-29 lead in rebounding. Steve Djurickovic (Sr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) led the way with a game-high 27 points on nine-of-19 field goals, including four-of-six from three-point range, along with a perfect five-of-five free throws, six rebounds and five assists. Djurickovic is now fifth on the CCIW all-time scoring list (2,274 points thru Jan. 11), and he passed both North Central's Bill Warden (2,249, 1951-55) and Illinois Wesleyan's Jack Sikma (2,273, 1973-77) in the Illinois Wesleyan game.
Tyler Pierce (So., Westmont, Ill.) had 14 points on six-of-nine shooting, along with four rebounds. Nick Bauch (Fr., Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) had seven points and six rebounds in 17 minutes. Raul Guzman missed the game with back trouble. Sean Johnson was the lone Titan player in double figures with 20 points on five-of-13 field goals, along with eight-of-nine free throws.
"It all starts on the defensive end" said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "We out-rebounded them by 12 and defended the heck out of them. They never got into a rhythm. While Steve Djurickovic will get a lot of well-deserved accolades for this game, Tyler Pierce played his best game of the year, and Mitch Thompson had a big game on the boards. The perimeter defensive game we played really sticks out. This was a very similar game to Wheaton, where we lost because we couldn't finish in the second half. Our offensive execution in the first half tonight was really good—not so good in the second half. I told Nick Bauch that tonight was like a coming-out party for him, like a girl at the junior prom."
Carthage travels to Elmhurst, Ill., on Wednesday, Jan. 13 to play conference-opponent Elmhurst College (6-7, 1-1 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. game at R.A. Faganel Hall.