The Carthage College men's basketball team (7-12, 3-6 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost its fourth-straight game on Saturday, Jan. 31 by falling to CCIW-opponent and No. 31 Illinois Wesleyan University (15-5, 7-2 CCIW), 77-65, at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. 

With the win, the Titans moved into a first-place in the league with Augustana College (Ill., 17-3, 7-2).  The No. 4 Vikings lost to North Park University, 76-69, on Saturday in Chicago.  The Red Men are in a three-way tie for fifth place.

Carthage fell behind by 16 points right out of the chute, 21-5, as Illinois Wesleyan connected on five of its first six three-point attempts.  The Titans led by as much as 24 points in the first period, 36-12, at 5:29 and led by 22 at halftime, 43-21.  Carthage played better in the second period and pulled to within 10 points, 62-52, at 6:48.  Illinois Wesleyan went back up by 19, 71-52, at 5:09 and went on to win by 12 points, 77-65.

The Titans shot 48 percent (28-59), including 13-of-31 from three-point range and 10-of-17 threes in the first period, while the Red Men shot 44 percent (24-54), including six-of-20 three-pointers.  Illinois Wesleyan got to the free-throw line 15 times and made eight, while the Red Men connected on 11-of-18.  The rebounds were even at 35 each.

Jordan Nelson led Illinois Wesleyan with 15 points on five-of-nine field goals, all from three-point range, while Dylan Overstreet scored 14 points with four assists.  Pat Sodemann had 11 points, and Joel Pennington chipped in 12 points off the bench.  Mike Stevenson (So., Burlington, Wis./Wilmot-Union) led the Red Men with 14 points on six-of-14 shooting, including just one-of-eight three-pointers, along with four rebounds.  Cameron Van Wyk (Sr., Wassenaar, Netherlands) had 12 points and five rebounds, and Ellis Matthews (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) added 10 points.

"Once again, we practiced well this week," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, "and I thought we had a good idea of what we wanted to get done.  We were chasing from the start, and Illinois Wesleyan is a very good and very efficient basketball team.  They executed very well.  We played exceptionally well in the second half, but we have to convince our players to leave everything on the floor over the last five conference games.  I'm disappointed in our total performance, especially at home.  Elmhurst is another high-quality team this Wednesday, and they're playing very well at the right time—we'll see what we can get done."

The Red Men play host to conference-opponent Elmhurst College (16-4, 6-3 CCIW) on Wednesday, Feb. 4 in a 7 p.m. game, also at Tarble Arena.