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Steve Djurickovic
Mike Gryniewicz
Steve Djurickovic with a game-high 20 points vs. Wilkes

No. 23 Carthage Men's Basketball Falls to Wilkes University, 72-61, on Jan. 2

Red Men Face King's College (Pa.) on Sunday at "Wilkes-Barre Challenge"

1/2/2010 7:51:09 PM

Box Score

The Carthage College men's basketball team (7-3, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 23rd in the Dec. 29 “D3hoops.com” poll, ended a two-week schedule break on Saturday, Jan. 2 with a 72-61 loss to Wilkes University (6-3) on the first day of the “Wilkes-Barre Challenge” at King's College's William S. Scandlon Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.  King's (Pa., 3-7) bombed the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (1-8), 100-64, in Saturday's second game.  On Sunday, Jan. 3, John Jay plays Wilkes at 1 p.m., with the Red Men taking on King's at 3 p.m.
 
Carthage jumped out to a nine-point lead, 21-12, at 9:23, and the Red Men led by as much as 13 points, 33-20, at 3:52.  With both Adam Tolo and Raul Guzman in foul trouble with three personal fouls each, Wilkes chipped away in the final minutes of the first half and trailed by only five points at the break, 36-31.  Tolo and Guzman each picked up their fourth personal fouls early in the first half, and the Colonels took their first lead of the game, 52-51, at 11:25.  Guzman fouled out at 7:15, as Wilkes opened up a six-point lead, 58-52.  The Colonels' lead went to eight points, 63-55, at 4:33.  Still leading by eight points, 65-57, Wilkes' Chris DeRojas buried a three-pointer at 2:37 that put the Colonels up by 11, 68-57.  Adam Tolo fouled out at 1:45 and Tyler Pierce in the final minute, and Wilkes went on to win by 11 points, 72-61.
 
Wilkes shot 53 percent (25-47), while Carthage shot just 36 percent (20-56), including four-of-20 from three-point range with no threes in 10 second-half attempts.  The Red Men shot just 21 percent overall in the second half (6-29) and connected on just 17-of-28 from the free-throw line for the game.  The rebounds were even with 33 for each team.  Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored a game-high 20 points for the Red Men on six-of-15 field goals and eight-of-11 free throws, along with five assists.  Tyler Pierce (Fr., Westmont, Ill.) was the only other Carthage player in double figures with 15 points and five rebounds.  Tom Kresge topped Wilkes with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.  Chris DeRojas scored 17 points with five assists, and Paul Huch added 15 points.

 “We missed shots every which way you can,” said Carthage head coach Bosko Djurickovic. “Wilkes is a very good team, and their top-two guys would be really good players in our league. If we're not better prepared, this is what's going to happen. Our second half was just unacceptable. When you shoot 20 percent in the second half, you are not going to beat good teams. Our free-throw shooting was terrible. We have to re-group for King's College and be ready to compete tomorrow and against Wheaton this week. I'm glad, in a away, that this game happened today and not against Wheaton or someplace else. We've been surviving by the skin of our teeth, because we think we can turn things on and off when we need to. It doesn't work that way in the CCIW.”
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