The Carthage College men's basketball team (8-7, 2-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) opened a three-game stretch of CCIW-road games on Saturday, Jan. 14 with 69-61 loss to No. 25 Illinois Wesleyan University (13-2, 4-0 CCIW) at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill. 

The Illinois Wesleyan victory was its ninth in a row. Combined with North Central College's double-overtime loss to Wheaton College (Ill.) on Saturday night, the Titans moved into sole possession of first place in the CCIW.

Carthage was leading by five, 20-15, at 9:02 first period before Illinois Wesleyan went ahead, 22-20, at 7:08.  The Titans extended their lead to 10 points late in the period, 34-24, at 2:36.  The Red Men managed to whittle that lead down to four points, 34-30, at the break.  Carthage re-gained the lead, 35-34, at 17:45 second half, and the game stayed close the rest of the way.  Carthage's last lead was 46-45 at 10:08, with Illinois Wesleyan leading by as much as five points on three occasions.  The Red Men got as close as 52-51 at 7:49.  A dunk by Nick Anderson at 5:44 gave the Titans a seven-point lead, 60-53, but Carthage cut the margin to 61-57 at 4:27.  The Titans' Jordan Zimmer drained a three-pointer at 2:58 to put IWU up by eight points, 67-59.  Illinois Wesleyan won by that eight-point margin, 69-61.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 42 percent (21-50), including six-of-19 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 40 percent (22-55), including seven-of-21 from three-point range.  The Titans converted 21-of-30 from the free-throw line, while the Red Men were 10-of-16 from the charity stripe.  Illinois Wesleyan out-rebounded Carthage, 38-33. 

Nick Anderson came off the bench to lead the Titans with a game-high 18 points on six-of-seven field goals and a perfect six-of-six from the free-throw line.  Jordan Zimmer added 12 points on four-of-12 shooting, including four-of-11 from three-point range.  Malcom Kelly (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) led the Red Men with 16 points on six-of-12 field goals, including three-of-seven three-pointers.  Luke Johnson (Fr., Naperville, Ill./West Chicago-Wheaton Academy) had 15 points on six-of-13 shooting. 

"The winner of this game was the Illinois Wesleyan defense," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "Their half-court defense was good enough that it made it difficult for us to get easy shots.  When that happened, we reverted back to our early-season offense of holding onto the ball and holding onto the ball.  That's my fault.  We have to have some creativity where the ball moves, and we screen better.  The game was played at our pace, we pressured them into a lot of turnovers, but we couldn't convert as many times as we needed to.  We had some opportunities down the stretch, but unfortunately, our offense is not far enough along.  We have to develop an inside game and get our people to the foul line.  I love our defensive posture, I really do.  I'm not in any way, shape or form discouraged.  I know we're pretty good, and the Illinois Wesleyan people will tell you they took a deep breath tonight.  That's not enough for us--We have work to do."

Carthage travels to Wheaton, Ill., on Tuesday, Jan. 17 to play CCIW-opponent and No. 32 Wheaton College (Ill., 12-3, 3-1 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. game at King Arena.