Jan 27, 2018
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men earned their biggest win of the 2017-18 season on Saturday, as the Red Men topped #5 Augustana College on the road, 81-78.
The win, which snaps a six-game losing streak at Augustana, moves the Red Men to 11-7 and to 6-3 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The loss for the Vikings drops them 7-3 in the league and to 15-4 overall.
"Wonderful college basketball game and fortunately the good side won," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic after the win. "Our attention to detail this past week in practice was the best we have had this year. The key to tonight was our collective job on the boards. We emphasized that all week and ended up plus-11. Now we need to get ready for an excellent North Central team on Wednesday."
Rebounding was the story of the night, as Carthage, who has struggled on the glass most of the season, won the battle with a plus-11 difference, as Carthage pulled in 39 rebounds to Augustana's 28, including 13 offensive boards for the Red Men that translated into twelve second chance points. Brad Perry and Jordan Thomas led Carthage in rebounding with eight apiece.
Four Red Men scored in double-figures as Brad Kruse led Carthage with 20 points on 6-13 shooting and going 6-6 from the free throw line. Kruse was joined by Kienan Baltimore with 13 points, Perry with 12 and Derek Mason with 11. Kruse also added six rebounds and a pair of steals in the win.
As a team, Carthage was outshot from the field by the Vikings. Augustana hit 50% of their field goals to Carthage's 43.9%, but the Red Men went 8-16 from three and had one of their best free throw shooting games of the season, connecting on 23-of-26 attempts for 88.5%.
After falling behind on Augustana's first possession of the game, Carthage led the rest of the first half. Opening the game with the hot hand, Carthage jumped on top of the Vikings with build a 12-point lead with 11:40 left in the first half, giving the Red Men their largest lead of the game. The Vikings would battle back late in the half and eventually Carthage would take just a four-point lead into the break, 33-29.
Carthage held on to the tight lead for the opening 12 minutes of the second half but the Vikings were able to tie it and take their first lead since the opening seconds, as Augustana drew even at 56-56 with 7:54 remaining and then went up 59-56. Carthage had the answer though, as the Red Men scored on six straight possessions with a pair of three point field goals from Derek Mason and six points from Kruse, including a drive down the lane that ended with a two-handed dunk to put Carthage up 72-66 with 2:05 remaining. Augustana would get it to within three in the final seconds but Carthage would runout the clock for the upset victory.
The Red Men will return to action on Wednesday, January 31 as Carthage plays host to North Central College at Tarble Arena. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m.
The win, which snaps a six-game losing streak at Augustana, moves the Red Men to 11-7 and to 6-3 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The loss for the Vikings drops them 7-3 in the league and to 15-4 overall.
"Wonderful college basketball game and fortunately the good side won," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic after the win. "Our attention to detail this past week in practice was the best we have had this year. The key to tonight was our collective job on the boards. We emphasized that all week and ended up plus-11. Now we need to get ready for an excellent North Central team on Wednesday."
Rebounding was the story of the night, as Carthage, who has struggled on the glass most of the season, won the battle with a plus-11 difference, as Carthage pulled in 39 rebounds to Augustana's 28, including 13 offensive boards for the Red Men that translated into twelve second chance points. Brad Perry and Jordan Thomas led Carthage in rebounding with eight apiece.
Four Red Men scored in double-figures as Brad Kruse led Carthage with 20 points on 6-13 shooting and going 6-6 from the free throw line. Kruse was joined by Kienan Baltimore with 13 points, Perry with 12 and Derek Mason with 11. Kruse also added six rebounds and a pair of steals in the win.
As a team, Carthage was outshot from the field by the Vikings. Augustana hit 50% of their field goals to Carthage's 43.9%, but the Red Men went 8-16 from three and had one of their best free throw shooting games of the season, connecting on 23-of-26 attempts for 88.5%.
After falling behind on Augustana's first possession of the game, Carthage led the rest of the first half. Opening the game with the hot hand, Carthage jumped on top of the Vikings with build a 12-point lead with 11:40 left in the first half, giving the Red Men their largest lead of the game. The Vikings would battle back late in the half and eventually Carthage would take just a four-point lead into the break, 33-29.
Carthage held on to the tight lead for the opening 12 minutes of the second half but the Vikings were able to tie it and take their first lead since the opening seconds, as Augustana drew even at 56-56 with 7:54 remaining and then went up 59-56. Carthage had the answer though, as the Red Men scored on six straight possessions with a pair of three point field goals from Derek Mason and six points from Kruse, including a drive down the lane that ended with a two-handed dunk to put Carthage up 72-66 with 2:05 remaining. Augustana would get it to within three in the final seconds but Carthage would runout the clock for the upset victory.
The Red Men will return to action on Wednesday, January 31 as Carthage plays host to North Central College at Tarble Arena. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m.