The Carthage College men's basketball team (9-5, 2-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), tied for 39th place in the Jan. 11 "D3hoops.com" poll, defeated CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (6-8, 1-2 CCIW), 73-63, on Wednesday, Jan. 12 at R.A. Faganel Hall in Elmhurst, Ill.
Carthage opened up an early 12-3 lead at 15:06, but Elmhurst used a 15-3 run to go up, 18-16, at 9:24. The Bluejays were leading by five, 25-20, at 7:29. but the Red Men closed out the half on a 17-10 run to lead by two, 37-35. The game was tied, 37-37, at 17:31 second half before Carthage began to pull away. The Red Men led by 10 points, 58-48, at 10:57, and by 14, 71-57, at 4:13. Carthage went on to win by 10 points, 73-63.
Carthage shot 54 percent (25-46) while limiting Elmhurst to 38 percent from the floor (24-64). The Bluejays out-rebounded the Red Men, 35-31. Steve Djurickovic (Sr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) led the way with a game-high 27 points on nine-of-17 field goals, including four-of-seven from three-point range, along with a perfect five-of-five free throws, four rebounds and six assists. Malcom Kelly added 14 points on five-of-13 shooting, while Mitch Thompson (So., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) had nine points and 10 rebounds. Max Cary (Jr., Geneva, Ill.) missed the game with a shoulder injury, and Raul Guzman (So., Lyons, Ill./Cicero-Morton) missed his second-straight game with back spasms.
For Elmhurst, Steve Crane scored 20 points on eight-of-11 shooting and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, including nine offensive boards Jame Robertson had 12 points, and Zack Boyd added 11 points.
"It's never easy playing on the road," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "Elmhurst is a good basketball team, and they battled right down to the bloody end. This game was not safe until the last two minutes. Steve Crane was really good tonight. If he continues to play like that, he gives Elmhurst another dimension. We hung in there. Mitch Thompson did a good job on the boards. Jon Cieski and Malcom Kelly both played good all-around games. Steve Djurickovic got his points and made the plays, but this was a good team effort. We also did a good job in the second half, which we have not always done this year. Augustana is going to be very tough on Saturday. They have a very good basketball team, and their size is as impressive as any NCAA Division III team you'll ever see."
On Saturday, Jan. 15, the Red Men play host to conference-opponent and No. 8 Augustana College (Ill., 14-0, 3-0 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.