The Carthage College men's basketball team (7-10, 3-4 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost a nail-biter to CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 9-9, 2-5 CCIW), 46-45, on Saturday, Jan. 24 at King Arena in Wheaton, Ill.
The first half was close and low-scoring. Carthage managed a five-point lead, 22-17, at 2:20 and led by three points at the break, 22-19. The Thunder tied the game, 26-26, at 14:10 second half, before the Red Men went up by nine, 35-26, at 11:18. The lead went to 10 points, 38-28, at 10:27, before the Thunder closed to within two, 40-38, at 3:54 on a three-pointer by Caleb DeMoss. A layup and a pair of free throws by Mike Stevenson put Carthage up by five, 44-39, at 2:36.
The Red Men were still up by four, 45-41, when Wheaton's Brayden Teuscher connected on a three-pointer with 44 seconds left to make it a one-point game, 45-44. The Red Men brought the ball up court and called a time out with 26.7 seconds remaining. Ellis Matthews launched a three-pointer with 10.5 seconds to go that missed. The Thunder rebounded, and Joel Smith scored on a jumper with 0.4 seconds to go to put Wheaton up by one, 46-45. Carthage's Donte Logan missed a three-pointer from mid-court at the buzzer. The game-winning shot was the Thunder's first lead in the game since leading 17-15, late in the first period.
Wheaton shot just 29 percent (15-51), including six-of-18 from three-point range, while Carthage shot 41 percent (19-46), including four-of-12 three-pointers. The Thunder got to the free-throw line 12 times and made 10, while the Red Men connected on three-of-six. Carthage won the rebounding battle, 35-30.
Wheaton's Michael Berg scored 13 points on five-of-10 field goals, along with two-of-four free throws and six rebounds. Joe Smith added 11 points and five boards. Cameron Van Wyk (Sr., Wassenaar, Netherlands) led Carthage with 14 points on seven-of12 shooting, along with seven rebounds, while Donte Logan (Sr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) had 10 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
"This was as tough a loss as I can remember" said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "We led for 39 minutes, and we had missed opportunities late in the game. We played wonderfully, and our execution was terrific. We called the timeout at the end to set up a shot by a guy who has been beyond great of late. He got rid of the ball at an opportune time, and unfortunately, he just missed it. Wheaton got the rebound with no timeouts left, we identified what they were doing correctly, but the guy who made that shot was probably their fourth option. He ends up with a hand in his face, and from my angle on the bench, it had no chance to go in. Wheaton plays defense a little differently than most teams, and as a result, they're hard to prepare for. This team has been counted out by a lot of people a lot of times this year, but they give you whatever they have."
The Red Men play host to conference-opponent North Park University (10-8, 1-6 CCIW) on Wednesday, Jan. 28 in a 7 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.