Elmhurst Downs Carthage, 84-71, on Feb. 14

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The Carthage College men's basketball team (12-12, 6-7 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost to CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (12-12, 6-7 CCIW), 84-71, on Valentine's Day,  Feb. 14 at R.A. Faganel Hall in Elmhurst, Ill.

Carthage fell behind by 10 points, 16-6, at 15:08.  The Red Men caught the Bluejays and went ahead, 21-20, at 10:34 and led by as much as five points, 30-25, at 6:00.  Elmhurst came back with a 13-3 run to take a five-point lead of its own, 38-33, at 3:10 and led by a point at halftime, 42-41.  In the second half, Carthage was trailing by a point, 58-57, at 11:48 when the Bluejays scored eight unanswered points to take a nine-point lead, 66-57, at 9:54.  The margin went to 11 points, 70-59, at 7:11.  Elmhurst led by as much as 15 points, 84-69, with 19 seconds to go and went on to win by 13, 84-71.

The Bluejays shot 51 percent (32-63), including nine-of-21 from three-point range, while the Red Men shot 43 percent (26-60), including seven-of-19 three-pointers.  Elmhurst got to the free-throw line 16 times and made 11, while Carthage converted 12-of-13.  The Bluejays had a whopping, 46-22 rebounding edge, including 22 offensive boards.  Four Elmhurst players scored in double figures, with D'Ante Foster coming off the bench to score 22 points on eight-of-10 field goals, including five-of-seven three-pointers, along with four rebounds and three assists.  Jerome Robinson scored 18 points with six rebounds, James Robertson 16 points, and Nick Sanford added 15 points with a game-high 16 rebounds, eight offensive and eight defensive. 

Carthage's Malcom Kelly (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) scored a game-high 24 points on eight-of-13 field goals, including two-of-four three-pointers.  Mitch Thompson (Jr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) and Donte Logan (Fr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) had 10 points each, with Thompson pulling down nine rebounds.

"This was very, very disappointing," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and not a very good effort on our part.  Our execution left a lot to be desired.  Elmhurst is not a big team, but they out-rebounded us by 24.  Right now, we're a team that does not play the way we're supposed to play.  We still have a game left, and we need to re-group before we play a very, very good Augustana team on Saturday night and finish off our season.  We didn't play well at all on the offensive end.  We made some passes where you look at them and say 'What the heck is going on?'  We're sort of back to where we were three months ago.  We need to make some decisions about who our nucleus is.  This is a fight right now to get these guys to play the way they're supposed to play, and I haven't won this fight yet.  If we compete and do what we're supposed to do, it'll be a competitive game against Augustana."

The Red Men wrap up their season on Saturday night, Feb. 18 by playing host to conference-opponent and No. 17 Augustana College (Ill., 18-5, 8-4 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.