OSHKOSH, Wis. – The Carthage College men's basketball team (8-3, 2-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) returned to the court on Saturday, December 31^st at the Kolf Sports Center to take on the Titans of UW-Oshkosh (7-4).
 
Despite being on the road, the Red Men proved victorious over the Titans in a true overtime barn burner with a final score of 68-67.
 
Mike Stevenson led the Red Men in total points with 18 in 37 minutes of play, accompanied by Kienan Baltimore with 16 points in 21 minutes on the court. Jordan Thomas, Brad Kruse, and Brad Perry, and Baltimore each recorded five boards.
 
After winning the tip, the Red Men jumped out to an early 6-0 lead over the Titans on balls from beyond the arc by Jordan Thomas and Kevin Kozil. The Red Men held the lead for five minutes until a pair of free throws by UWO's Jansen tied the game. With 12:07 remaining in the half, Kienan Baltimore would make a 3-point basket that cut the Titan's lead in half, 15-13. Despite a late push by the Red Men, the game would head into halftime with UWO leading 33-25.
 
The Red Men were flawless from the free throw line in the first half, but shot 29-percent from the field, 9-31, and 20-percent from three, 3-15. In comparison, the Titans shot 37.1-percent overall, 11-29, and 23.1-percent from beyond the arc, 3-13. Rebounding would be the stat of the first half as the Titans out rebounded the Red Men 27-12. Brad Kruse led the way for Carthage in the first half with six total points.
 
The second half would start more favorably for the Red Men as a consistent offense and aggressive defense would bring the Red Men within two of the Titans, 42-40, with 13:32 remaining in the half. With 13:13 remaining, the Red Men regained the lead with a three-point basket by Baltimore, 43-42. Two more shots at the free throw line by Baltimore extended Carthage's lead to 45-42. One possession later, the Titans tied the game at 45 apiece on a three-point basket by UWO's Ben Boots.
 
Layups by Ryan Kase and Drew Joiner put the Red Men back on top with a 51-47 lead. Immediately following, Carthage would have a few defensive slip ups following their four-point run which gave the Titans the opportunity to the the game, 51-51, with 6:36 remaining. A two-point drive down the lane by Baltimore put the Red Men back on top, 53-51, with just over five minutes left in the half. On Oshkosh's next possession, an offensive foul by Kyle Beyak would give position back to the Red Men would used the opportunity to earn two more points, giving themselves a four-point lead, 55-51.
 
Two minutes later, a steal by Kevin Kozil gave Brad Kruse the opportunity to score two-points, lengthening the Red Men's lead to 59-54 with just over two minutes remaining in play. After multiple scoreless possessions by both teams a free throw by UWO's Jansen and a two-point basket by Max Schebel put the Titans within two of the Red Men, 59-57, with 38-seconds left to play.
 
With just under four seconds remaining, the Titans inbounded the ball which resulted in a multitude of shots near the rim with no ball entering the net before time ran out. However, a foul by Kienan Baltimore at the end of regulation would put three-tenths of a second back on the clock and give the Titan's Taylor Jansen two shots at the foul line with Carthage leading 59-57. Jansen made both free throws which sent the game into overtime at the Kolf Sports Center.
 
The Red Men shot 33.3-percent from the field, 9-27, and 15.4-percent from beyond the arc, 2-13, in the second half. They were also able to connect on 66.7-percent of their free throws, 6-9.
 
UWO won the tip to start overtime but missed two shots from long which gave the ball to the Red Men. Carthage struggled on their end of the court as well as two missed shots turned into a turnover. The Titans capitalized on the turnover as Boots went down the court to score two, giving Oshkosh a 61-59 lead. After a missed jumper by Brad Perry, UWO was once again given the chance to score. After Noone missed his first three-point attempt, Jansen grabbed the offensive rebound and threw the ball to Boots who nailed a long range three, extending the Titan's lead to 64-59. One possession later the Titan's Schebel added two more to UWO's tally and further lengthened the score to 66-59.
 
The Red Men were not going to go down without a solid battle. On the next possession Jordan Thomas lined up a beautiful jumper and scored two for the Red Men. On the Titan's next possession Brad Kruse made an aggressive steal which would eventually lead to a foul by UWO which put Kruse at the line shooting two. Kruse sunk both free throws which closed the score to 66-63, in favor of the Titans.
 
With 52-seconds remaining a foul by the Red Men sent Schebel to the line where he made only one of two free throws. Down by two, Mike Stevenson made a mid-range jumper to cut the deficit to only two points. Then, after a UWO Turnover, Mike Stevenson sunk a three from five-feet outside the top of the key on a ball from Drew Joiner to give the Red Men a 68-67 lead with seven seconds left. The basket by Stevenson proved to be the final dagger for the Titans as Carthage would go on to win 68-67.
 
"it was an exciting win on New Years Eve," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic. "We're ready to go back to work on Monday. I've said through the years, I don't know if quite yet that we're that, but good teams win close games. We played through a lot of adversity and there were a lot of good individual performances today and we ended the game on a great note. Happy New Year!"
 
Overall, the Red Men shot 36.5-percent from the field, 23-63, 19.4-perecent from beyond the three-point line, and 75% from the free throw line, 15.20. In addition to the high energy performances by Stevenson and Baltimore, Brad Kruse also scored 10-points of his own closely followed by Jordan Thomas with 7, Ryan Kase with 6, and Kevin Kozil with 5. UW-Oshkosh out rebounded the Red Men 47-31 and the Red Men had 10 steals compared to UWO's 6.
 
The Red Men will return to play in 2017 on Wednesday, January 4^th as they take on CCIW-opponent North Park University in Chicago, Ill. The Red Men are currently tied for first at 2-1 in CCIW play heading into Wednesday's game. The game will tip-off at 7 p.m.