Box Score

The Carthage College men's basketball team (16-5, 8-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 23rd in the Feb. 2 “D3hoops.com” poll and second in the Feb. 3 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional poll, fell to CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill., 14-7, 7-3 CCIW), 70-59, on Saturday, Feb. 6 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. The loss, combined with Illinois Wesleyan University's 73-59 win over Elmhurst College, left the Red Men in a tie for first place with Illinois Wesleyan (17-4, 8-2 CCIW).

It was a game of two halves, one belonging mostly to Carthage, but the second half was pretty much all Vikings, who erased a 16-point Carthage lead. The Red Men took the lead at 17:58 first half, and Carthage opened up an 11-point lead, 31-20, at 5:04. The margin went to 16 points, 38-23, at 3:02 before the Vikings closed out the period on a 9-0 run to make it a seven-point game at the break, 38-31.

Augustana scored the first six points of the second half to pull to within one, 38-37, at 17:28, completing a 15-0 run over six minutes. The Red Men went back up by seven points, 44-37, at 15:19 before the Vikings tied the contest, 45-45, at 12:58. Carthage's last lead of the game was 48-47 at 12:16, Augustana took the lead, for good, 49-48, at 11:29 on a layup by Kyle Nelson. The Vikings edged away from the Red Men, taking a 10-point lead, 69-59, at 1:39 and going on to win by 11, 70-59.

Augustana shot 56 percent (25-45), while Carthage shot just 32 percent (17-54), including just seven-of-29 from three-point range. The Vikings had a whopping, 15-rebound advantage over the Red Men, 39-24. Kyle Nelson scored a game-high 24 points on 10-of-14 field goals and four-of-six free throws, along with a game-high 13 rebounds. Chris Anderson had 14 points. Steve Djurickovic (Jr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) had 21 points on four-of-13 from the floor and 11-of-13 from the free throw line, along with nine assists. Max Cary (So., Geneva, Ill.) scored 14 points. 

“Augustana kicked us around for the last 30 minutes,” said Carthage coach Bosko Djurickovic. They were too physically tough for us, and we couldn't keep them off the boards. Our freshman played like freshman in this game. Augustana's system won tonight, and they did a great job of preparation, much better than I did. We were fortunate they missed so many free throws. Otherwise, it's a 15 or an 18-point game. Augustana deserves this. They prepared better, and they played better. The conference race still goes through Carthage, if we take care of our business. We had an opportunity in this game to separate us from the rest of the field, and we didn't get the job done. We have to re-group for Elmhurst on Wednesday.”

The Red Men travel to Elmhurst, Ill., on Wednesday, Feb. 10 to play conference-opponent Elmhurst College (6-15, 1-9 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. game at R.A. Faganel Hall.