Box Score

The Carthage College men's basketball team (21-5, 12-2, 1st place College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 16th in the Feb. 23 “D3hoops.com” poll and second in the Feb. 24 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional poll, survived a semifinal game in the CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday, Feb. 26 with a hard-fought, 55-52 win over Augustana College (Ill., 16-10) at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. 

In the other semifinal contest, No. 29 Illinois Wesleyan University (20-6) defeated No. 30 Wheaton College (Ill., 18-8) by a 68-59 margin. Carthage takes on Illinois Wesleyan in the tournament-championship game on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m., also at Tarble Arena, with the winner gaining the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

There were eight lead changes and three ties in the first period. Augustana inched away to a six-point lead, 22-16, at 8:34, and the Vikings led by seven at halftime, 31-24. Augustana took a 39-30 lead at 15:07 second period. The Red Men whittled away at that margin and got the lead down to one point, 45-44, at 8:09. Steve Djurickovic hit a jumper at 5:15 to put Carthage up, 46-45. Following ties at 46-46 and 48-48, the Red Men took the lead, to stay, 50-48, on a pair of Djurickovic free throws at 1:57. 

Carthage went up by seven, 55-48, with 55 seconds remaining and seemed to have the game well in hand, but things got interesting in the final seconds. Two free throws by the Vikings' Matt Pelton made it 55-50 with 45 seconds to go. Carthage's Eric Moore turned the ball over on an inbound play, and Augustana's George Dexter immediately converted the mistake into a layup to make it 55-52. Dexter was fouled on the play but missed the free throw. The Red Men's Max Cary missed a three-pointer at the other end with 10 seconds to go. Augustana returned the ball to midcourt, called a timeout, but Brian DeSimone's three-point attempt at the buzzer missed for the final, 55-52 margin.

Carthage shot 39 percent (21-54), while Augustana shot 38 percent (18-48). The Red Men had a narrow, 35-34 edge in rebounding. Carthage's Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored a game-high 22 points on eight-of-17 field goals and five-of-six free throws. Tyler Pierce (Fr., Westmont, Ill.) was the only other Carthage player in double figures with 12 points on five-of-nine from the floor, along with seven rebounds. Matt Pelton scored 21 points on seven-of-12 field goals, including three-of-eight from three-point range and four-of-four free throws.