The Carthage College men's basketball team (11-11, 6-5 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) snapped a two-game losing streak on Wednesday, Feb. 6 with a 71-67 win over CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (5-17, 1-10 CCIW) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Carthage is tied for fourth place with Augustana College (Ill., 16-6, 6-5 CCIW) with three games remaining in the regular season.
Carthage led almost the entire first period. The Red Men opened up a 10-point lead, 32-22, at 2:24 and led by 12 at halftime, 38-26. Carthage extended its lead to 13 points, 42-29, at 18:41 second half. The Red Men maintained a double-digit lead until the Bluejays pulled to within four, 56-52, at 9:36. Carthage went back up by nine points, 64-55, at 6:22, but Elmhurst hung around and made it a two-point game, 64-62, at 3:27. The Red Men were still leading by two, 67-65, when Marlon Senior scored on a layup with 17 seconds to go, putting Carthage up by four, 69-65. D'Ante Foster scored for Elmhurst with 10 seconds remaining to make it a three-point game, 69-67, but a pair of Mitch Thompson free throws with nine seconds on the clock iced the win for the Red Men, 71-67.
Carthage shot 40 percent (21-53), including just four-of-19 from three-point range, while Elmhurst shot 42 percent (22-52), including seven-of-17 three-pointers. The Red Men got to the free-throw line 35 times and made 25, while the Bluejays converted 16-of-22. Elmhurst had a narrow, 36-33 rebounding advantage but turned the ball over 18 times to 12 for Carthage.
Carthage had three players in double figures. Mitch Thompson (Sr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) scored a game-high 22 points on seven-of-11 field goals, along with eight-of-10 free throws and six rebounds. Reese Herth (So., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) scored 13 points on four-of-14 shooting, including two-of-eight three-pointers, along with six boards, and Tyler Pierce (Sr., Westmont, Ill.) added 10 points. Bryant Ackerman came off the Elmhurst bench to score 17 points, while Nick Sanford had 15 points and eight rebounds.
"We persevered," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "Our inability to separate a game from an opponent is frustrating. We played quite well in the first half, but we played an adventurous game after that, and it almost bit us. We had good shots that we didn't make, and we missed 10 free throws. Illinois Wesleyan is coming here on Saturday for a coronation, and we don't want that to happen here. We're certainly capable of playing with them, but our preparation is going to have to be spot-on, and we're going to have to withstand the tremendous confidence that they're playing with right now. We don't have the powerful team that can just out-score them, so we're going to have to be creative and take something away from them."
On Saturday, Feb. 9, the Red Men close out their home schedule by entertaining conference-opponent and No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan University (19-3, 11-0 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. contest, also at Tarble Arena. At halftime of Saturday's game, Carthage will honor Paul Hubbard, who just over 50 years ago, on Feb. 16, 1963, set a school record with 47 points in a 92-75 win over Lake Forest College at the Carthage Fieldhouse in Carthage, Ill. Hubbard's mark still stands, and he is one of only six Red Men to score 40 or more points in a game.