LA VERNE, Calif. – The Carthage College men's basketball team completed the sweep of their west coast competition on Tuesday as the Red Men held on despite a comeback attempt by the University of La Verne Leopards at the Sports Science and Athletics Pavilion, 81-73.
 
The win improves the Red Men to 7-3 in 2016, while the Leopards fall to 5-3 on the year.

"Wonderful effort on the second day of a back-to-back against a quality team on the road," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic following the win.  "Always peaks and valleys in any game that you play and today was no different.  We could have played a little bit better from about the last eight minutes of the first half to until about five minutes in the second half, but that happens.  You have to give La Verne credit for some of that as they have a very tough team to match up to… Very proud of the performance today.  Mike Stevenson was outstanding all the way through.  He has kind of become an offensive focal point since he can score off the block, on the drive and from three.  Kienan Baltimore's play in the second half was absolutely key, including a couple key rebounds and a steal when it most counted.  Thomas shot the ball well.  Drew Joiner gave a really good effort.  And Mike Kjeldsen's play was very good today." 
 
Mike Stevenson led the way for the Red Men with a season-high by a Carthage player, 34 points, on 12-of-17 shooting from the field and 10-15 from the line.  Jordan Thomas added 15 points on five-of-seven shooting from three-point land.
 
51.5-percent from the field, 17-33, and 46.2-percent from three, 6-13, paced the way for Thomas and Stevenson to lead the Red Men in the first half with a dozen points apiece.  Thomas stroked it early from deep, going four-of-six from three, while Stevenson found success inside the arc, hitting five-of-seven field goals.
 
The strong shooting coupled with a strong defensive effort earned the Red Men a 17-point lead more than midway through the half, as Carthage went up 29-11 with 10:42 remaining left in the first. 
 
La Verne wouldn't go quietly however as La Verne caught fire late and cut the big Red Men lead to just four, 37-33, with 2:37 remaining in the half before Thomas knocked down his fourth three of the half to go to the break up, 42-33.
 
Stevenson improved on his first half with a dominant second half performance that saw the senior go 7-of-10 from the field on his way to 22-second half points.
 
Carthage continued to bend but not break in the second half as the Leopards attempted to claw back into the game as La Verne continued to hit timely threes, cutting the Red Men's lead to 69-64 with 5:01 left in regulation until Jordan Thomas hit a pull-up three to push the lead back to eight.
 
A 7-0 run by La Verne later cut the Red Men's lead to one with 1:44 remaining but it would be as close as the game would get as Kienan Baltimore, Stevenson and Kevin Kozil went six-for-six combined down the stretch from the free throw line to seal the win.  Baltimore finished with six points and a career-high eight rebounds.  Stevenson led the team with nine boards and Kozil led the Red Men with seven assists.

Djurickovic closed saying, "We need to move forward now.  It's never easy.  We are about where we expected to be.  We are in good position to make a solid CCIW run, which we are trying to get done."
 
The Red Men will return to action on New Year's Eve as the Red Men head to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for the final game of 2016.  Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m.