Box Score
The Carthage College men's basketball team (9-3, 1-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 35th in the Jan. 5 “D3hoops.com” poll, opened its CCIW schedule on Wednesday, Jan. 6 with a 75-62 win over No. 14 Wheaton College (Ill., 8-4, 0-1 CCIW) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis.
Carthage opened up a seven-point lead, 19-12, at 11:23 first half. Wheaton (Ill.) used a 9-0 run to take its only lead of the game, 21-19, at 8:43. The Red Men went back up by five, 31-26, at 3:40 and led by three at the break, 35-32. In the second half, the Red Men inched away to a nine-point lead, 48-39, at 13:32. The Thunder got it back to a five-point game, 53-48, at 10:04. At that point, Carthage took off on a 13-4 run to take a 14-point lead, 66-52, at 6:29.
Steve Djurickovic scored eight of those 13 points. The Red Men led by as much as 19 points, 73-54, at 2:55 and went on to win by 13, 75-62.
Carthage shot 58 percent (30-52), including a blistering 80 percent in the second half (16-20), while Wheaton (Ill.) shot 44 percent (20-45) but just 33 percent in the second period (7-21). The Red Men out-rebounded the Thunder, 29-19.
Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored 29 points on 11-of-15 field goals, including two-of-three from three-point range, along with five-of-five free throws, five rebounds and seven assists. Max Cary (So., Geneva, Ill.) was only other Carthage player in double figures with 13 points and five rebounds. Tim McCrary also scored 29 points for Wheaton (Ill.) on 10-of-19 from the floor and nine-of-10 from the free-throw line, along with seven boards.
“The crowd was great tonight, “ said Carthage head coach
Bosko Djurickovic. “We haven't been home in awhile, and this can be fun basketball team to watch. Cody Hilton did a great job on Ben Panner tonight. Panner was the guy we wanted to stop, and Hilton is a great defender. We made Tim McCrary look better than he probably is, but we wanted to stop Panner. Richard Williams was really good in the first half, and Adam Tolo hit a couple of big threes in the second half. The rebounding was good, especially on the offensive end, but we still turned the ball over too many times. These are two very good basketball teams, and the intensity level was very high. Both teams were well prepared, and this was a very competitive game. Saturday's game will be another big one. As you know, I'm not a very popular guy in Bloomington.”
On Saturday, Jan. 9, the Red Men travel to Bloomington, Ill., to play conference-opponent and No. 25 Illinois Wesleyan University (10-2, 1-0 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. contest at the Shirk Center.
