Box Score
The Carthage College men's basketball team (13-9, 6-5 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) defeated CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (7-14, 2-8 CCIW), 82-63, on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at Tarble Arena in Kenosha, Wis. Combined with Wheaton College's 80-77 home loss to first-place Augustana College (Ill.) on Wednesday, the Red Men pulled into a fourth-place tie with the Thunder, both at 6-5.
There were six ties and seven lead changes in the first half. Carthage led by as much as eight points, 34-26, at 3:44 and led by six at the break, 40-34 after
Malcom Kelly drained a three-pointer at the buzzer. The second half was pretty much all Red Men. The Bluejays still trailed by six, 49-43, at 14:39, before Carthage took off on a 14-4 run to take a 16-point lead, 63-47, at 9:43. Elmhurst got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way, 66-55, at 7:00. The Red Men went on to win by 19 points, 82-63.
Carthage shot 55 percent (30-55), including seven-of-14 from three-point range, while Elmhurst shot just 38 percent (24-63), including seven-of-23 three-pointers. Three Red Men scored in double figures.
Steve Djurickovic (Sr., Pleasant Prairie, Wis./Kenosha-Bradford) scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, along with seven-of-11 free throws and six assists.
Malcom Kelly (So., Kenosha, Wis./Reuther) had 22 points on seven-of-10 field goals, including five-of-seven three-pointers, while
Tyler Pierce (So., Westmont, Ill.) chipped in 10 points. Aaron Schroeder came off the Elmhurst bench to score 14 points, while D'Ante Foster had 11 points.
“If we were an NBA team,” said coach
Bosko Djurickovic, “you'd call this a good, solid professional effort. Nothing flashy, and Elmhurst hung around for a long time. Once we established some separation, we kept it going. Our offensive execution was probably as good as it's been all year long. Elmhurst has some good players and some things to look forward to. They have some size, and they have some people who can put the ball in the basket. To their credit, they prepare well every night, and to our credit, we played well for 40 minutes.
Malcom Kelly is not only playing well off of
Steve Djurickovic, but he's playing for Steve and others.
Max Cary was live—he touched everything. We've made our bed at this point—there are no steps backwards allowed anymore. North Central is going to be a very tough game on Saturday, because they've played way beyond anything anyone expected. They're well coached and playing with great confidence.”
Carthage travels to Naperville, Ill., to take on conference-opponent and second-place North Central College (12-9, 8-2 CCIW) in a 7:30 p.m. game at Merner Fieldhouse/Gregory Arena.
