The Carthage College men's basketball team (8-8, 2-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) came back from a 16-point second-half deficit but still wound up on the short end of a 79-73 score against CCIW-opponent and No. 22 Wheaton College (Ill., 13-3, 4-1 CCIW) on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill. 

The game was the middle contest of a tough, three-game road stretch for the Red Men.  Carthage opened the three-game stretch on Saturday, Jan. 14 with a 69-61 loss to No. 25 Illinois Wesleyan University (13-2, 4-0 CCIW) at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, Ill. 

In the loss at Wheaton, Carthage fell behind by nine points in the first half, 22-13, at 8:43.  The Red Men then ran off 11 unanswered points to take a two-point lead, 24-22, at 5:04.  Nick Bauch scored on a pair of field goals in that 11-0 run, and Reese Herth scored four points on a basket and two free throws.  The Thunder led by four points at halftime, 34-30.  Carthage fell behind by nine, 45-36, at 15:53 second half, as Jeremy Pflederer drained his second three-pointer of the half.  Wheaton upped its lead to 16 points, 57-41, at 12:42.  The Red Men cut that lead in half to three points, 64-61, at 6:45.  A bucket by Malcom Kelly tied the game, 68-68, at 4:04.  Two free throws by Tyler Pierce at 3:30 gave the Red Men a two-point lead, 70-68.  Carthage still led by a point, 73-72, at 2:17 before Spencer Schultze scored on a layup at 2:02 to give the Thunder the lead to stay, 74-73.  Wheaton went on to win by six points, 79-73.

Wheaton shot 52 percent (28-54), including seven-of-17 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 47 percent (26-55), including just three-of-15 from three-point range.  The Thunder converted 16-of-25 from the free-throw line, while the Red Men were 18-of-25 from the charity stripe.  Wheaton had a narrow, 31-30 edge in rebounding over Carthage.

Tim McCrary, this week's CCIW "player of the week" led the Thunder with a game-high 27 points on nine-of-12 field goals and nine-of-10 free throws, along with nine rebounds.  Jeremy Pflederer had 14 points and six rebounds, while Spencer Schultze added 12 points.  Four Carthage players scored in double figures.  Malcom Kelly (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) led the way with 18 points on six-of-15 shooting, including two-of-seven three-pointers and four-of-five from the free-throw line.  Mitch Thompson (Jr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) and Reese Herth (Fr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) had 12 points each, with Thompson pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.  Tyler Pierce (Jr., Westmont, Ill.) chipped in 11 points.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Red Men travel to Rock Island, Ill., to take on conference-opponent and No. 19 Augustana College (Ill., 12-4, 2-3 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. contest at the Roy J. Carver Center.