The Carthage College men's basketball team (4-3, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) gave No. 5 Hope College (5-1) a battle on Saturday, Dec. 5, but the Red Men came up on the short end of a 93-83 game. Saturday's game concluded the 12th and final Midwest Challenge, this one at Hope College's DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich.
Carthage opened the tournament on Friday, Dec. 4 with a 77-65 loss to Calvin College (3-3). That loss snapped a three-game Carthage win streak, all on the road. In Friday's second game, Hope (4-1) got by Wheaton College (Ill., 3-3), 88-83 in double-overtime. On Saturday, Dec. 5, Calvin (4-3) defeated Wheaton (Ill., 3-4), 79-66.
In Saturday's loss, Carthage jumped out to an early, 17-10 lead at 14:54 first period. Hope erased that lead and tied the game, 19-19, at 13:38. The Flying Dutchmen took a 29-28 lead at 8:10 on a three-pointer by Sam Otto, but the Red Men's Myles Olson answered with a three to put Carthage back on top. Leading, 31-30, Carthage scored on four unanswered field goals to take a nine-point lead, 39-30, at 5:32. Hope erased that lead, as well, and the two teams went into the locker room tied at 46 each.
The Flying Dutchmen opened the second half with a pair of unanswered three-pointers by Otto to take a six-point lead, 52-46. Otto connected an another three at 17:07, his sixth of the game, and Hope suddenly had a 10-point lead, 58-48. The Flying Dutchmen extended their lead to 14 points, 81-67, at 6:54. The Red Men whittled that margin down to four points, 84-80, at 2:52 on a layup by Jordan Kedrowski, but a jumper at 2:41 and a three-pointer at 1:15, both by Ben Gardner, put Hope up by nine, 89-80. The Flying Dutchmen went onto to win by 10 points, 93-83.
Hope shot 54 percent (27-50), including a sizzling 11-of-20 from three-point range, while Carthage shot 48 percent (31-65), including just six-of-22 three-pointers. The Flying Dutchmen got the free-throw line 33 times and made 28, while the Red Men converted 15-of-20. After being out-rebounded by Calvin, 51-30, on Friday night, the Red Men enjoyed a 33-31 edge over the Flying Dutchmen on the glass.
Sam Otto led Hope with a game-high 27 points on nine-of-14 field goals, including seven-of-10 from three-point range. Ben Gardner had 20 points on five-of-eight shooting, along with eight-of-10 from the free-throw line and five rebounds, and Harrison Blackledge added 17 points, also on five-of-eight field goals, along with a perfect seven-of-seven free throws.
Four Carthage players scored in double figures. Mike Stevenson (Jr., Burlington, Wis./Wilmot-Union), despite playing with four personal fouls, led the Red Men with 17 points on seven-of-11 field goals and four rebounds. Myles Olsen (Sr., East Troy, Wis.) scored 16 points on five-of-nine shooting. Including four-of-six three-pointers. Jordon Kedrowski (Fr., Bolingbrook Ill./Downers Grove-North) had 15 points on six-of-17 from the floor, and Sean Valentine (Sr., Cary, Ill./Crystal Lake-Prairie Ridge) came off the bench to add 12 points and four boards.
"It's still a matter of playing complete games and being able to play 40 minutes," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. "While we're not quite there yet, today was a refreshing effort. We played with great resolve, and most of our guys left it all on the floor. If we can continue to play that way, we could have a pretty successful season. It was a fun game. We were scoring, we were guarding, and we were competing—that's all you can ask. The game got away from us in the first seven or eight minutes of the second half, but to make it a four-point game late shows that we had every opportunity to win this one. We did a good job of not giving Hope easy transition baskets, but they did a better job in their half-court offense than I thought they would."
The Midwest Challenge, formerly known as the CCIW-MIAA Challenge, was first played in December 2004 and comes to an end this year after as 12-year run. Wheaton (Ill.) played host to the inaugural men's tournament in 2004, along with the 2008 and 2012 events. Hope played host to the 2005, 2009 and 2015 tournaments, Carthage to the 2006, 2010 and 2014 events and Calvin to the 2007, 2011 and 2014 tournaments. Hope and Wheaton (Ill.) led the final tournament standings, each with 14-10 records, followed by Carthage at 10-14 and Calvin with a 9-15 mark.
The Red Men play host to Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, Dec. 12 in a 7 p.m. game at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The contest with the Titans will be Carthage's last home game this month. The Red Men's only other home action so far this season was the Nov. 13-14 Carthage Classic. Wisconsin-Oshkosh brings a 3-2 mark into a Tuesday home game with Maranatha Baptist Bible College.
"Wisconsin-Oshkosh is a very confident and experienced basketball team," said Djurickovic. "We should have a nice home crowd. We're playing well enough, and we have a fun team to watch."