Box Score

The Carthage College men's basketball team (5-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 17th in the Dec. 1 “D3hoops.com” poll, opened play in the sixth annual CCIW/MIAA Classic on Friday, Dec. 4 with a 72-69 loss to Calvin College (2-3) at Hope College's DeVos Field House in Holland, Mich.  No. 27 Hope (4-1) upset No. 6 Wheaton College (Ill., 4-1), 77-52, in Friday's second game.  On Saturday, Dec. 5, Calvin takes on Wheaton (Ill.) at 1 p.m., EST, with Carthage playing Hope at 3 p.m., EST.

 

In Carthage's loss to Calvin, the Knights went up by 10 points, 28-18, at 6:48.  The Red Men cut the lead to three points, 30-27, at 4:29, but Calvin led by eight at halftime, 40-32.  In the second half, Carthage used an 18-8 run at the start of the period to take a 50-48 lead at 12:54.  The Red Men upped their margin to nine, 61-52, at 7:45, and still led by a point, 69-68, with 40 seconds to play.  The Knights' John Mantel hit two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Calvin a 70-69 lead.  Steve Djurickovic missed a jumper with six seconds on the clock that would have put Carthage back up by a point.  The Knights' Matt Veltema was fouled with one second to go and made both free throws to give Calvin a 72-69 edge.  The Red Men's Raul Guzman managed to launch a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game.

 

Carthage shot 51 percent (27-53), while Calvin shot 49 percent (25-51). The Knights out-rebounded the Red Men, 31-22. Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) led Carthage with 23 points on nine-of-18 field goals, including three-of-six from three-point range, along with two-of-two free throws and four rebounds. Cody Hilton (Sr., Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) had 12 points. Calvin's John Mantel scored a game-high 24 points on eight-of-19 from the floor and six-of-seven from the free-throw line, along with nine rebounds. Matt Veltema added 12 points.

“I was frankly surprised that Calvin let Steve Djurickovic take an eight-foot shot in the lane in the last second,” said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic, “and surprised that he didn't make it. He's going to make that shot nine times out of 10. Maybe it's because he's playing 40 minutes. There has to be a way to get him some rest. We've not found that yet. Calvin is a very good team, and we'll have to do a better job on Saturday against Hope. Hope is better than Calvin, and we're playing in Hope's building.”