The Carthage College men's basketball team (8-9, 3-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) collected its second upset of a top-20 CCIW team on Saturday night, Jan. 19 by nipping No. 20 Wheaton College (Ill., 13-4, 3-3 CCIW ), 62-61, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Earlier this month on Jan. 12, the Red Men knocked off No. 1 North Central College, 64-53.
Carthage had a nine-point lead, 18-9, at 12:16 first half. A three-pointer by the Thunder's Brayden Teuscher at 2:31 capped a 12-5 Wheaton run that tied the game, 21-21. The two teams remained tied at the break, 25-25. The Red Men led most of the second period but by no more than six points, that being 36-30, at 16:44. Wheaton tied the game, 46-46, at 9:43, and the Thunder took a three-point lead, 53-50, at 5:01. Carthage re-gained the lead, 54-53, at 3:04.
The Red Men were leading by three, 58-55, when Wheaton's Michael Kvam nailed a three-pointer to tie the contest, 58-58, at 1:06. On Carthage's next possession, Mitch Thompson missed a jumper. Marlon Senior rebounded, and his tip-in with 37 seconds remaining put the Red Men up by two, 60-58. Following a Carthage timeout, the Thunder's Brayden Teuscher hit a three-pointer with 21 seconds to go that put Wheaton back up by a point, 61-60. After another Red Men time out, Senior scored on a jumper with four seconds to go to give Carthage a 62-61 lead. Wheaton's Teuscher got a desperation shot off at the buzzer that fell short.
Carthage shot 45 percent (24-53), including four-of-10 three-pointers, while the Thunder shot 42 percent (20-48), including five-of-15 from three-point range. Wheaton got to the free-throw line 20 times and made 16, while Carthage converted 10-of-14. The Thunder had a 34-28 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 14 times to just seven for the Red Men.
Carthage's leading scorer, Tyler Pierce (Sr., Westmont, Ill.), missed the game with an ankle injury. Kiston Lee (So., Decatur, Ill./MacArthur) is also out with a broken hand. Mitch Thompson (Sr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) led the Red Men with 16 points on seven-of-17 field goals and five rebounds. Marlon Senior (Jr., Skokie, Ill./Niles North) had 15 points on six-of-15 shooting, along with seven rebounds. Wheaton's Brayden Teuscher scored a game-high 19 points on five-of-12 field goals, along with seven-of-eight free throws. Tyler Peters had 16 points, with Nathan Haynes and Michael Kvam adding 10 points each.
"Our preparation has been really good the last few games," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "We all go through games over the course of the year that you deserve to win, and we deserved to win. Wheaton coach Mike Schauer said the same thing to me after the game. We did give two uncontested three-pointers down the stretch that should never have happened. A win is a win, and we were due for one of these. Once we got into the game, we knew we had a chance, and we took advantage of it. Our man-to-man defense the first 20 minutes was outstanding. We also did a good job of getting to our spots. We got a little tired at the end, but we are so under-manned, that's not a surprise. This was a heck of an effort by everyone. We'd love to be in the conference tournament, but right now, we just have to take care of our business, one game at a time."
Carthage entertains conference-opponent North Park University (6-11, 1-5 CCIW) on Wednesday, Jan. 23 in a 7:30 p.m. contest, also at Tarble Arena.