Box Score The Carthage College men's basketball team (3-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) lost the title game of the Carthage Classic on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 24 with a 74-69 loss to No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater (3-0) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.  Aurora University (1-3) defeated Iowa Wesleyan College (5-3), 88-82, in Saturday's consolation game.  In opening-round action on Friday night, Nov. 23, Carthage defeated Iowa Wesleyan, 85-73, with Wisconsin-Whitewater thumping Aurora by a 107-68 margin.
 
Following an 8-8 tie at 12:45, Wisconsin-Whitewater opened up an 11-point lead, 29-18, at 3:38.  A pair of free throws by Patrick Souter just before the half ended gave the Warhawks a 15-point edge, 39-24, at the break.  Carthage opened the second period with a 17-6 run to close to within four points, 45-41, at 14:11.  The Warhawks went back up by 10, 55-45, at 10:18, but the Red Men pulled to within four again, 57-53, at 7:22.  Wisconsin-Whitewater went up by nine, 68-59, at 3:44, before Carthage made it a two-point game, 69-67, on a three-point play by Kiston Lee with 58 seconds to play. 
 
After the Warhawks turned the ball over on their next possession,  Carthage's Donte Logan missed a pair of three-point attempts that would have given the Red Men a one-point lead.  The first miss was at 41 seconds and the other with 21 seconds on the clock.  UW-Whitewater's Eric Bryson was fouled and made two free throws to up the lead to four, 71-67.  Luke Johnson scored on a dunk with seven seconds to go to make it 71-69.  Bryson was fouled two more times and converted three-of-four free-throw attempts for the final, 74-69 margin.
 
Wisconsin-Whitewater shot 58 percent (26-45), including 60 percent in the second half (12-20), while Carthage shot 48 percent (27-56).  The Red Men connected on five-of-16 three-point attempts, while the Warhawks made four-of-10.  Wisconsin-Whitewater had a narrow, 28-27 rebounding edge. 

Four Carthage players scored in double figures.  Tyler Pierce (Sr., Westmont, Ill.) had 12 points on five-of-nine field goals.  Donte Logan (So., Evanston, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) and Reese Herth (So., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) scored 11 points each, with Logan collecting five assists.  Kiston Lee (So., Decatur, Ill./MacArthur) came off the bench to add 10 points.  Eric Bryson led Wisconsin-Whitewater with 19 points and four rebounds.  K.J. Evans had 15 points, while Quardell Young chipped in 11 points.

Carthage's Donte Logan was named to the all-tournament team, along with Eric Bryson and Quardell Young from Wisconsin-Whitewater, Aurora's Kalmon Stokes and Iowa Wesleyan's Kyle Warner.

“We lost a tough game,” said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, “but I'm energized by this one and ready to get back to work on Monday.  The last 20 minutes of this game of this game convinced us that we can make a serious season out of this.  We know our schedule is tough, but we think we have a pretty good basketball team.  We took Wisconsin-Whitewater to the limit, and that's all you can ask.  They play a man's game.  This was a real test, strength against strength, and I thought we pretty darned good in the second half.  The battle between Donte Logan and Quardell Young was one heck of an NCAA Division III point-guard battle.  We have some things to add to the package before Hope and Calvin this weekend, and we need to see why it took us 25 minutes to get to the point we got to tonight.”
 
Carthage travels to Wheaton, Ill., on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 30-Dec. 1 for the ninth-annual CCIW/MIAA Classic at the Wheaton College (Ill.) King Arena.  On Friday, Nov. 30, the Red Men play No. 19 Hope College (2-2) at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday, Dec. 1 contest with No. 36 Calvin College, beginning at 1 p.m.  No. 32 Wheaton (Ill., 4-0) plays Calvin (6-0) on Friday at 8 p.m. and Hope on Saturday at 3 p.m.