KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men used a big first half lead to power the men's basketball to a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opening win Saturday night at Tarble Arena, defeating the Millikin University Big Blue, 70-59.
 
The win concludes a six-game home stand in which the Red Men went 4-2 to open the season and 1-0 in the CCIW.  The loss keeps Millikin winless at 0-6 and 0-1 in the league.
 
Forward Mike Stevenson led all Red Men with 13 points in the game despite making just one field goal in the game.  Keinen Baltimore added 12 points and Brad Kruse finished with 11.
 
Leading by three early, 5-2, the Red Men exploded opened the game up with a 13-2 run to take a 15-4 lead with 14:06 remaining in the half fueled by five points from Kevin Kozil.  A quick 5-0 run by Millikin cut into the Red Men's lead for a moment but the red Men regained their composure to go on a 14-4 run, which included a huge dunk from Reggie Banks, of their own and take a 32-15 lead with just over five minutes left in the half.   Banks ended the game with seven points.
 
Carthage was able to build on that and take a 21-point lead into the half, 41-20, as the Red Men shot 42.4-percent, 14-of-33, from the field and scored 14 points off the Big Blue's 13 first half turnovers and added 10 second chance points from seven offensive rebounds.
 
The Red Men needed every bit of the lead in the second half as Millikin mounted a ferocious comeback with a 14-1 run to cut the deficit to single digits at 45-36.  Millikin would get as close as seven, 54-47, with 6:48 left, however the Red Men were able to hit their enough free throws down the stretch, including five from Stevenson in the final minute, to end the six game home stand with the 70-59 win.
 
Stevenson finished 10-of-12 from the stripe Saturday.
 
Millikin's Zach Fisher led all scorers with a game-high 17 points.
 
The Red Men will now go on the road for the first time during the 2016-17 season as Carthage begins six-game road trip starting on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at North Central College.