Carthage vs. UW-Platteville Box Score

Aurora vs. UW-Whitewater Box Score

The Carthage College men's basketball team (2-1, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), tied for 55th place in the “D3hoops.com” pre-season poll, defeated No. 17 Wisconsin-Platteville (2-1), 78-65, on Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Carthage Classic at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. No. 13 Wisconsin-Whitewater (2-0) defeated Aurora University (0-2), 89-83, in the other game on Nov. 21. Carthage lost an 82-81 thriller to Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday, Nov. 20 on the first night of the tournament, with Wisconsin-Platteville (2-0) defeating Aurora, 86-79. 

 

Carthage never trailed in the first half of the Wisconsin-Platteville game. The Red Men led by as much as nine points on two occasions, the last at 30-21 at 6:26. Carthage led by three points at halftime, 38-35. The Pioneers went up by four points early in the second half, 42-38, at 17:22. Carthage took the lead to stay. 43-42, at 16:08 on layup by Max Cary. The Red Men pulled away from the Pioneers down the stretch, taking an 11-point lead, 68-57, at 8:00 and a 15-point edge, 78-63, in the final minute. Carthage won the game by 13 points, 78-65. Carthage shot a blistering 67 percent (28-42) while limiting Wisconsin-Platteville to 45 percent shooting (23-51). The Red Men edged the Pioneers on the boards, 22-21. Carthage's Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored a game-high 24 points on seven-of-nine field goals, including one three-pointer, along with nine-of-10 free throws and six assists. Max Cary (So., Geneva, Ill.) had 16 points, Tyler Pierce (Fr., Westmont, Ill.) 14 points, and Raul Guzman (Fr., Lyons, Ill./Berwyn-Morton West) chipped in 10 points. Eric Wall led the Pioneers with 23 points, while Curt Hanson had 17 points.

“We played well against a quality team,” said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. “Wisconsin-Platteville is a little undersized, and we know how that feels. We had three freshmen playing the last 15 minutes of the game. We shot 67 percent, and that's staggeringly good. We also did a terrific job guarding the perimeter people. We had a good game plans, and the guys executed it very well. It's one game in 25, but this was a good one for us. This will help our practices considerably next week, knowing we can beat a quality team like Wisconsin-Platteville.”

 

Carthage travels to Waukesha, Wis., on Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 28-29 for the Carroll University "Wisconsin Classic" at Van Male Arena. On Saturday, Nov. 28, Carthage plays Concordia University (Wis., 3-1) at 2 p.m., followed by No. 57 Carroll (Wis., 1-1) taking on Wisconsin Lutheran College (0-2) at 6 p.m. On Sunday, Nov. 29, the Red Men play Wisconsin Lutheran, also at 2 p.m., with Carroll (Wis.) facing Concordia (Wis.) at 6 p.m.