The Carthage College men's basketball team (3-1, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) defeated Wisconsin-Oshkosh (1-3), 80-63, on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
Carthage jumped out to a 15-point lead, 23-8, at 9:23. The Red Men maintained a double-digit lead until late in the period when the Titans pulled to within eight, 35-27, with 55 seconds to go. Carthage led by 10 points at the break, 37-27. Wisconsin-Oshkosh cut the lead to five points, 41-36, at 17:37 second half. Carthage went back up by12 points, 55-43, at 13:04 and started to pull away. The Red Men led by as much as 20, 67-47, at 9:53 and went on to win by 17 points, 80-63.
Carthage shot 54 percent (28-52), including seven-of-17 three-pointers, while UW-Oshkosh shot 45 percent (26-58), including just four-of-18 from three-point range. The Red Men got to the free-throw line 25 times and made 17, while the Titans made seven-of-11 from the line. Carthage out-rebounded Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 36-25.
Three Red Men starters scored in double figures, with Donte Logan (Jr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) leading the way with a career-high 21 points on seven-of-nine field goals and a perfect six-of-six free throws, along with five rebounds and four assists. Marlon Senior (Sr., Skokie, Ill./Niles North), with his second-straight strong effort, scored 16 points on six-of-10 shooting and collected seven rebounds and five assists. Kevin Sykes Jr., (Sr., Tinley Park, Ill./Frankfort—Lincoln-Way North) added 10 points and seven boards. Jade Royston led the Titans with 20 points.
"It was a weird game," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "They did what they had to do to win the basketball game, and they were very creative, defensively. I'm never happy when our execution isn't so good, but it can't be as good as it was on Wednesday against Washington (Mo.). That was a different-paced game. We have a lot of stuff to clean up. The games get tougher, and we have to keep moving forward. Donte Logan is getting better and better, and he's starting to understand our offense better and picking his times. He was good tonight. I also though Scott McNellis and Myles Olsen both did very good jobs."
Carthage plays host to Cardinal Stritch University (7-2) on Wednesday, Dec. 5 in a 7:30 p.m. game, also at Tarble Arena. The Wolves are the defending-national-champions in the NAIA Division II and ranked first in that division's pre-season poll.