A three-pointer at the buzzer by Kevin Sykes gave the Carthage College men's basketball team (5-4, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) a thrilling, 79-76 win over Cardinal Stritch University (9-3) on Saturday, Dec. 17 at the Stritch Gym in Milwaukee. The Wolves were ranked 12th in the Dec. 12 NAIA Division II coaches poll, and the Carthage win was the third in a row for the Red Men.
Carthage opened up an 11-point lead, 17-6, at 11:52. Cardinal Stritch pulled to within four points, 19-15, at 8:28, before the Red Men went back up by 11, 26-15, at 6:23. The Wolves made it four-point game again, 28-24, at 3:52, but the Red Men closed out the first half with a nine-point lead, 39-30, after Malcom Kelly was fouled on a three-point attempt with 1.2 seconds left and made all three free throws. Luke Johnson had 14 first-half points, along with three blocked shots.
Cardinal Stritch used a 9-3 run at the start of the second half to pull to within three, 42-39, at 16:13. The Red Men went back up by 11, 60-49, at 11:11. Carthage took its biggest lead at 13 points, 66-53, at 9:08 on a jumper by Reese Herth. Cardinal Stritch cut the lead to five points, 67-62, at 6:42 and to four points, 76-72, at 3:05. The Wolves' Tony Smit buried a three-pointer with 1:04 left to make it a one-point game, 76-75. Smit was fouled by Malcom Kelly with 22 seconds remaining. Smit made the first free throw but missed the second, and the game was tied, 76-76. Carthage got the ball back with 15 seconds to go, and Kevin Sykes (So., Tinley Park, Ill./Frankfort—Lincoln-Way North) connected on an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to secure the win, 79-76.
Carthage shot a blistering 55 percent (29-53), including 59 percent in the second half (13-22), while Cardinal Stritch shot just 37 percent for the game (22-59). The Red Men out-rebounded the Wolves, 34-22, but turned the ball over 20 times to just 12 for Cardinal Stritch. Three Red Men scored in double figures. Luke Johnson (Fr., Naperville, Ill./West Chicago-Wheaton Academy) scored a season-high 23 points on nine-of-14 field goals, including four-of-six from three-point range. Max Cary (Sr., Geneva, Ill.) and Malcom Kelly (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) had 12 points each. Navjot Singh topped the Wolves with 20 points. Tony Smit had 17 points, Jeremy D'Amico 13 points, and Derek Woelffer added 12 points and seven rebounds.
"They say good teams win close games," said Carthage head coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and we deserved to win this game. Kevin Sykes made a great shot at the end to get us over the top. We have a lot of growing and work to do, but the positives far out-weigh the negatives. If we're going to embrace this style of running and pressing basketball, then you have the accept a certain level of personal fouls being called on you. We thought we could play a big lineup, but this style seems to fit our personnel a little better. We just need to work on flowing into our own system a little better. This was Luke Johnson's best offensive game of the season. Even though the game came down to a three-pointer, we controlled the contest for 37 minutes or so against a team that is going to win 22 or 23 games. This little gym is a tough place to play, but I love places like this. It has half the seats of my old North Park gym, and I like that place. We've put ourselves in the right direction for the rest of the season, and we're going to be a very hard team for other people to play."
The Red Men travel to Thousand Oaks, Calif., for the Thursday-Friday, Dec. 29-30 California Lutheran University "Thrivent Financial" Tournament at the Gilberts Sports & Fitness Center. On Thursday, Dec. 29, Carthage plays Geneva College at 8 p.m. (all times PST), preceded by the host-Regals taking on Washington College at 6 p.m. The Friday, Dec. 30 consolation and championship games get underway at 6 and 8 p.m.