The Carthage College men's basketball team (2-3, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost to No, 27 Hope College (6-1), 89-59, on Saturday, Dec. 3 on the second day of the eighth-annual CCIW/MIAA Classic at Calvin College's Van Noord Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Red Men opened tournament play on Friday, Dec. 2 with a 71-68 loss to Calvin (4-3), with Hope (5-1) upsetting No. 13 Wheaton College (Ill., 5-1), 79-78, in Friday's opening game. Wheaton (Ill.) faces Calvin on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., EST.
The loss to Hope was Carthage's third in a row after opening the season going 2-0 at the Carroll University "Johnson Bank Tip-Off Tournament." Carthage is now zero-for-Grand Rapids in the tournament. The Red Men went 0-2 at the 2007 event at the Calvin College Fieldhouse. The tournament returns to Van Noord Arena in December 2015.
The Red Men had a 21-15 lead at 10:44 before things went somewhat haywire. A 10-3 run by Hope gave the Flying Dutchmen a 25-24 lead at 7:53. Hope took off on a 23-9 run at that point to close out the half with a 15-point lead, 48-33. The Red Men pulled to within 11 points at 1:45 on a bizarre sequence that saw Hope's Logan Neil walk off the court to the bench before his substitute was buzzed into the game. The Flying Dutchmen were assessed an administrative technical foul for an "unauthorized departure." Reese Herth sank a free throw that was result of a personal foul on Billy Seiler, and Malcom Kelly sank one-of-two free throws resulting from the technical. Hope upped its lead to 17 points, 52-35, at 18:16 second half, to 18 points, 61-43, at 13:07 and to 25 points, 70-45, at 8:45. The Flying Dutchmen went on to win by 30, 89-59.
Hope shot 60 percent (36-60), while Carthage shot just 40 percent (20-50). The Flying Dutchmen out-rebounded the Red Men, 35-28. Five Hope players scored in double figures. David Kromebeen led the way with 15 points. Nate Snuggerud and Peter Bunn had 14 points each, Colton Overway 13 points, and Billy Seiler chipped in 10 points. Malcom Kelly (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) scored a game-high 21 points on six-of-10 from the floor, including three-of-seven three-pointers, along with six-of-seven free throws. Luke Johnson (Fr., Naperville, Ill./West Chicago-Wheaton Academy) had 17 points on seven-of-12 shooting, along with seven boards. Max Cary (Sr., Geneva, Ill.) left the game in the first half with a leg injury and did not return.
"My mother said there would be days like this," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and this was one of those. Hope is a wonderful basketball team, and they should be a serious contender in the NCAA tournament. They have a good blend of seniors and size, and they play well together. On the other hand, we didn't play well, we didn't play right, and we put ourselves in that position. In the second half, we were successful for awhile at mucking up Hope's attack, but then they started to execute their offense, and then the dam burst. The last 10 minutes were painful to watch. We have to re-group. I've been at this a long time, and we know what to do. We have some evaluations to make, we have to see how injured Max Cary is, and we have to move forward."
Carthage plays host to Lake Forest College on Tuesday, Dec. 6 in a 7:30 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. "Lake Forest is a very good, senior-dominated basketball team," said Djurickovic, " and we're going to have to play a good game to win on Tuesday night."