The Carthage College men's basketball team (11-13, 6-7 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost to CCIW-opponent and No. 22 Wheaton College (Ill., 19-5, 9-4 CCIW), 64-58, on Saturday night, Feb. 16 at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill.  The loss, along with Augustana College's 66-61 win over Elmhurst College, eliminated the Red Men from qualifying for this year's CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament.

Wheaton led most of the first half, but Carthage took a 24-23 lead at 5:42.  The game was tied, 31-31, a the break.  The Thunder took a five-point lead, 38-33, at 15:36 second half, but the Red Men tied the contest, 38-38, at 14:17.  Carthage led by three, 46-43, at 8:50, but Wheaton took a 51-50 lead at 5:08 on a jumper by Joel Smith.  After tied at 51-51 and 53-53, the Thunder took a 56-53 lead at 3:30 on a three-pointer by Peter Smith.  Wheaton made it a four-point game, 62-58, with 36 seconds to play.  The Thunder went on to win by six points, 64-58.

Wheaton shot 42 percent (22-52), including six-of-15 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 46 percent (23-50), including just two-of-seven from three-point range.  The Thunder went to the free-throw line 22 times and made 14, while the Red Men converted 10-of-17.  Wheaton had a 36-30 rebounding advantage.  The Thunder's Tyler Peters scored a game-high 24 points on five-of-nine field goals, along with 13-of-16 free throws and five rebounds and four assists.  Brayden Teuscher added 11 points and four assists.  Tyler Pierce (Sr., Westmont, Ill.) led the Red Men with 20 points on eight-of-14 shooting, along with four-of-six free throws and seven rebounds.  Mitch Thompson (Sr., Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

"It was a wonderful CCIW basketball game" said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and it was well-paced from the beginning to the end.  Our guys played to the very last possession, and I give them all the credit for their execution.  It's a tough business when you end up on the short end of the stick, because no one wants to hear about which teams are 7-7 or 6-8.  We had a couple of missed assignments and a couple of missed free throws, which takes away from what was a heck of an effort from us.  It would have been nice to get to foul line a bit more, but that is what it is.  Tyler Pierce and Mitch Thompson both played well tonight, and both have been fine players for four years.  We have to be better.  We have to recruit better, and we have to give our current players a better opportunity to get to the top of the league."

Carthage closes out the CCIW regular season on Tuesday, Feb. 19 by traveling to Chicago to play North Park University (6-18, 1-12 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. contest at the North Park Gym.