The Carthage College men's basketball team (7-11, 3-5 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost its third-straight game on Wednesday, Jan. 28, falling to CCIW-opponent North Park University (11-8, 2-6 CCIW), 79-75, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. With the loss, the Red Men fell into a fifth-place tie in the CCIW with Millikin University (8-11, 3-5 CCIW), both team a full game behind fourth-place North Central College (14-5, 4-4).
North Park broke an 11-11 tie at 13:31 first half with a 15-2 run to go up by 13 points, 26-13, at 10:38. The lead went to 14 points, 29-15, at 8:50, and the Vikings led by nine points at the break, 41-32. North Park went back up by 14, 48-34, at 17:34 second period. Carthage cut the lead to six points three times between 16:00 and 11:26, before North Park went back up by 13, 65-52, at 7:43.
The Red Men came back again to cut the lead to two points, 72-70, at 2:49 on a dunk by Kiston Lee. Lee then missed what would have been a game-tying jumper at 2:06, and the Vikings took a five-point lead, 75-70, at 1:44 when Colin Lake was fouled beyond the three-point line and converted all three free throws. Once again, Carthage whittled the lead to two, 77-75, with 12 second to go, but North Park went on to win by four points, 79-75.
The Vikings shot 53 percent (26-49), including eight-of-18 from three-point range, while the Red Men shot 41 percent (28-69), including eight-of-30 three-pointers. North Park got to the free-throw line 29 times and made 19, while the Red Men connected on 11-of-16. Carthage won the rebounding battle, 39-36.
North Park got 52 points from two non-starters, with Jordan Robinson leading the way with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-15 field goal, including three-of-five three-pointers, along with two-of-four free throws and seven rebounds. Juwan Henry had 25 points on eight-of-16 shooting, including two-of-five from three-point range, along with seven-of-10 from the free-throw line and six boards. Starter Colin Lake added 12 points.
Four Carthage starters scored in double figures, with Donte Logan (Sr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) leading the way with 18 points on eight-of-14 shooting, along with five rebounds and 10 assists. Logan collected 10 assists for the fourth game in his last five. Ellis Matthews (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) had 15 points and four boards, Mike Stevenson (So., Burlington, Wis./Wilmot-Union) 10 points and four rebounds and Cameron Van Wyk (Sr., Wassenaar, Netherlands) 10 points and four boards.
"I wish I had answer for this," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, but we've been a very poor home basketball team this year. We had two good days of practice, but give North Park credit. They did a nice job of changing defenses, and nobody in this league has two players as good as Juwan Henry and Jordan Robinson. We tried three or four guys on Robinson, but we didn't have an answer for him. Donte Logan had to do an inordinate amount of work chasing Henry and running our offense. North Park controlled the tempo on their defensive end, and they made enough plays late in the game to win the game. We have to find a way to play better at home, that's for sure."
The Red Men play host to conference-opponent and No. 31 Illinois Wesleyan University (14-5, 6-2 CCIW) on Saturday, Jan. 31 in a 7 p.m. game, also at Tarble Arena.