ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Carthage College men's basketball team suffered their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin loss of the season Saturday night, as the Red Men fell to the Augustana College Vikings, 86-70, at the Roy J. Carver Center for Physical Education.
 
The loss drops the Red Men to 5-3 on the season and 2-1 in the CCIW, while the Vikings move to 7-2 overall and 2-1 as well in the CCIW.
 
The Red Men opened the first half with hot three point shooting to hold keep the Vikings within reach early but still trailing 16-13 with 12:11 remaining in the half.  However a 7-0 run by Augustana extended their lead to 10 for the first time in the game.  After starting the half 3-5 from deep, the Red Men finished the half just one of their 4-8 from three, led by Jordan Thomas with makes on his two three point attempts.
 
Strong free throw shooting by the Vikings, 7-of-8 in the half, and foul issues by the Red Men allowed Augustana to build an 18-point half time lead as Chrishawn Orange hit a step-back three at the buzzer to second the Red Men into the half trailing 44-26.
 
Trailing by 20 out of the half, 46-26, Carthage began a furious comeback led by Mike Stevenson who had 11 points during a 22-4 run by the Red Men to cut the lead to just four at 50-48 with 13:05 remaining in the game.
 
Augustana responded with a 11-3 run of their own before the Red Men would once again try and respond on the back of Kienan Baltimore who scored 10 straight points to draw the Red Men back within four at 65-61 with 4:21 remaining.  Baltimore would go on to score 12 straight for the Red Men before Stevenson put a free throw in.
 
Baltimore finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Stevenson and Thomas added 16 each and Kruse had 11. 
 
Unfortunately for Carthage, Augustana was able to once again build a double-digit lead before escaping with an 86-70 win.
 
For the Vikings, Orange finished with a game-high 25 points to lead all scorers on 7-of-11 shooting.
 
The Red Men will now take their talents out to The Golden State for a pair of games on the west coast, as Carthage will face Caltech Monday, December 19th and the University of La Verne Tuesday, December 20th.