In the first of two road games this week against top-10 teams, the Carthage College men's basketball team (8-13, 2-8 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost to No. 9 Elmhurst College (18-3, 8-2 CCIW), 96-70, on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at R.A. Faganel Hall in Elmhurst, Ill. 

This coming Saturday, Feb. 6, the Red Men travel to Rock Island, Ill., to take on No. 2 Augustana College (Ill., 20-1, 9-1 CCIW) in a 7 p.m. contest at the Roy J. Carver Physical Education Center.  The Vikings were a 76-68 winner over No. 13 North Central College (145-6, 8-2 CCIW) on Wednesday.

Three weeks ago, the Red Men played the same two top-10 teams at home.  Carthage fell to then-No.2 Elmhurst, 78-58, on Jan, 13 before losing to then-No. 3 Augustana (Ill.) by a 71-63 margin. 

In Wednesday's game, Elmhurst took an early 10-pont lead, 12-2, at 16:18, but Carthage came back to make it a two-point game, 19-17, at 10:25.  A 14-6 Bluejay run put Elmhurst up by 12 points, 33-21, at 6:47.  Elmhurst couldn't quite shake Carthage off, as the Red Men pulled to within eight points on several occasions and even seven points, 37-30, at 5:01.  The Bluejays led by 11 points at halftime, 53-42.  Carthage actually out-shot Elmhurst in the first period, as the Red Men connected on 14-of-28 field goals (50 percent), while the Bluejays shot 47 percent (21-of-45), with Erik Crittenden scoring 14 points.  Carthage turned the ball over 10 times in the first period.

Carthage was still within nine points, 55-46, at 17:46 second half, but Elmhurst took control of the game with back-to-back layups by Brandon Schwebke at 14:00 and 13:29, the second of which put the Bluejays up by 17, 67-50.  The Red Men pulled to within 11 points, 67-56, at 10:59, but back-to-back three-point plays by Crittenden and Kyle Wuest at 7:41 and 7:23 put the Bluejays up by 24 points, 84-60.  Elmhurst took a 25-point lead, 87-62, at 6:02 and went on to win by 26, 96-70.

Elmhurst shot 50 percent (37-of-74), including five-of-18 three-pointers, while Carthage shot 41 percent (22-of-54), including seven-of-22 from three-point range.  The Bluejays got to free-throw line 25 times and made 17, while the Red Men converted 19-of-24.  Elmhurst had 41-37 rebounding advantage, and Carthage turned the ball over 18 times to just seven turnovers for Elmhurst.

The Bluejays' Erik Crittenden (Sr., Crete, Ill./Chicago Heights-Marian Catholic) led all scorers with 22 points on nine-of-16 field goals, along with four-of-five free throws and five rebounds.  Kyle Wuest (Sr., Edinburgh, Ind.) scored 16 points with seven assists, Bryant Ackerman (Sr., Loogootee, Ind.) 14 points with five boards, and Will Nixon (Sr., Plainfield, Kill./South) added 10 points with six rebounds.

Tony Pierce Jr. (Sr., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) led the Red Men with 15 points on three-of-eight field goals, including two-of-five from three-point range, along with seven-of-eight free throws.  Kiston Lee (Sr., Decatur, Ill./MacArthur) scored 12 points on six-of-12 shooting, along with a game-high 13 rebounds, his second-straight "double-double."  Jordon Kedrowski (Fr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Downers Grove-North) had 12 points.

"We just couldn't sustain anything," said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "We got close a few times, but we just couldn't sustain enough to make a game of this.  Elmhurst has a really good team.  We played hard, and I have to give our guys credit for their effort.  Kiston Lee really did a nice job.  He's hung with things over the years, and I couldn't be happen for him."