The Carthage College men's basketball team (2-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) evened its season record on Tuesday, Nov. 25 with a 73-64 win over Wisconsin-Platteville (3-2) at Williams Fieldhouse in Platteville, Wis.
 
Carthage jumped out to a 19-9 lead at 10:15 first half and extended the margin to 15 points, 35-20, at 4:59.  The Pioneers, however, closed out the half on an 11-0 run to close the gap to four points at the break, 35-31.  The Red Men fell behind by five early in the second period, 49-44, at 14:20.  Carthage tied the game at 49-49 at 11:53 on a layup by Mike Kastel and took the lead, for good, 52-49, at 11:15 on a three-pointer by Ellis Matthews.  The Red Men opened up an 11-point lead, 70-59, with 56 second left and went on to win by nine, 73-64.
 
Carthage shot 54 percent (25-46), including six-of-10 three-pointers, while UW-Platteville connected on 41 percent (25-61), including four-of-15 from three-point range.  The Red Men converted 17-of-25 free throws, while the Pioneers made 10-of-11.  Carthage had a narrow, 32-30 rebounding advantage.  Three Red Men scored in double figures, with Ellis Matthews (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) coming off the bench to score 19 points on six-of-10 shooting, including four-of-four from three-point range and three-of-three free throws.  Cameron Van Wyk (Sr., Wassenaar, Netherlands) had 18 points on nine-of-12 field goals, along with six rebounds, and Mike Kastel (Sr., St. Charles, Ill./Exeter (N.H.) Academy) added 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.  Jake Manning led Wisconsin-Platteville with 14 points, while Boston Johnson had 13 points.
 
On Friday-Saturday, Nov. 28-29, the Red Men travel to Santa Cruz, Calif., for the University of California-Santa Cruz "Hilton Slugs Winter Tournament" at the Kaiser Permanente Arena.  Carthage takes on No. 4 Washington University (Mo., 4-0) on Friday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m., PST and UC-Santa Cruz on Saturday, Nov. 29, also at 3 p.m., PST.