The Carthage College men's basketball team (7-5, 0-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) hung with No. 13 Augustana College (Ill., 11-1, 1-0 CCIW) for 34 minutes on Saturday, Jan. 4 but fell to the Vikings, 82-74, at the Roy J. Carver Physical Education Center in Rock Island, Ill.  The game was the CCIW-opener for both teams.

The first half was close with four lead changes and five ties.  Augustana led by as much as seven points, 36-29, with 45 seconds to play, and the Vikings led by five points at halftime, 36-31.  The Red Men pulled to within four points on two occasions early in the second half, the latter at 44-40 at 14:15.  The Vikings inched out to a 10-point lead, 51-41, at 12:23, but back-to-back three-pointers by Malcom Kelly brought the Red Men back within four, 51-47, at 11:15.  Augustana went back up by seven, 54-47, at 9:42, but Carthage cut the lead to three, 56-53, at 7:50.  A 14-5 run put the Vikings up by 12 points, 70-58, at 2:49, and Augustana went on to win by eight points, 82-74. 

Augustana shot 56 percent (27-48), including four-of-13 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 51 percent (26-51), including eight-of-19 from three-point range.  The Vikings got to the free-throw line 30 times and made 24, while the Red Men hit 14-of-19 free throws.  Augustana out-rebounded Carthage by a 30-22 margin, with three of the five Carthage starters going without a single rebound.  The turnovers were even at 13 for each team.

Four Augustana starters scored in double figures.  Danielius Jurgutis scored a game-high 19 points on seven-of-10 field goals.  Ben Ryan had 13 points and five rebounds, Hunter Hill 13 points with four boards, and Tayvian Johnson added 11 points with four rebounds.  Nic Hoepfner came off the bench to add 13 points. 

Reese Herth (Jr., Morton Grove, Ill./Niles West) led the Red Men with 16 points on five-of-10 shooting and four-of-four free throws.  Kevin Sykes Jr. (Sr., Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) had 12 points on four-of-four field goals, including two-of-two three-pointers, and two-of-two from the free-throw line.  Malcom Kelly (Sr., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) and Donte Logan (Jr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) both came off the bench to add 10 points each. 

"This game was an opportunity lost," admitted Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "We're a good basketball team when we play optimally.  When we do that, we have a chance to win every game we play.  We shot 51 percent—that wasn't the issue.  The issue was that they shot 56 percent and still out-rebounded us by nine.  Every time we had an opportunity to make a play, we came up a little short.  Some of that was poor organization by me and some was poor execution.  Give Augustana credit.  They continue to win games, because they play right, they play hard, and they play very unselfishly.  I like our team, and I don't know that the better team won tonight.  The team that won tonight played better.  I liked our effort tonight.  We need to find better consistency in games, and that's on me."

Carthage travels to Chicago on Wednesday, Jan. 8 to play North Park University (3-9, 0-1 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. game at the North Park Gym.