NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men earned one of the first big upsets in the 2016-17 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin season on Wednesday night, going into Gregory Arena and defeating the CCIW's preseason favorite and #9 team in the nation, North Central College, 85-75.
 
The win moves the Red Men to 5-2 on the season and 2-0 in the CCIW, while the Cardinals fall to 4-2 on the year and 1-1 in the league.
 
"Road conference wins are worth a lot," said head men's basketball coach Bosko Djurickovic following the win.  "North Central is a team that was preseason top five or top ten team and our guys executed the game plan nicely.  We really gave ourselves a chance after about a five or six minute let down in the first half.  Other than that, the game really went the way that we wanted it to."

All five starters for the Red Men scored in double-figures with freshman center Brad Perry leading the way with 20 points and seven rebounds.  Rounding out the leading scorers for the Red Men were Mike Stevenson with 19, Jordan Thomas with 17 and Brad Kruse and Kevin Kozil with 11 apiece.  Thomas and Stevenson also finished with seven rebounds to tie for the team-high.
 
Carthage got out to an early 16-8 lead with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half behind a pair of threes from Thomas and a three point play from Mike Stevenson.  An 11-0 run by North Central over 3:55 quickly erased the Red Men's lead to give the Cardinals a 19-16 lead before Kienen Baltimore hit his first field goal of the game to end a 7:28 drought. 
 
Neither team shot that well in first half as Carthage held a slight edges in shooting from the field, 39.3%-30.8%, from three, 40.0%-25.0%, and from the free-throw line, 50.0%-37.5%.  However with just under two minutes left in the half, Carthage retook the lead, 28-27, as Derek Mason drove the baseline and found Brad Perry for a layup and drew a foul for the Red Men's second three-point play of the evening.
 
With North Central leading, 32-28, Carthage had the ball for the final shot, which Stevenson hoisted from straightaway to beat the buzzer and head to the locker room down just one at 32-31.  Stevenson finished the half leading the Red Men with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field.
 
The shooting troubles resurfaced for the Cardinals in the second half with the game tied, 42-42, after a back and forth start to the second half, the Red Men went on a 17-2 run over 5:20 to 59-44 lead with 11:08 remaining in the game behind six points from Thomas, five from Kruse and four from Perry.
 
The Red Men's zone was able to closeout the rest of the game for Carthage, who never led by less than eight the rest of the way, hitting 15-of-18 free throws and escaping with the upset win on the road, 85-75.

"If there was a game ball to be given out tonight, it would go to Jordan Thomas," noted the head coach.  "He really stepped up and made some shots that we needed.  Now, after seven games, we expect our big guys to be good.  Brad Perry was a monster tonight.  We got six or seven under-appreciated minutes from Reggie Banks.  Then you have Stevenson and Baltimore who are really good.  We go back to work tomorrow with practice.  We are on the road Saturday.  So it would be nice to go out to Augustana and play a good game."
 
Carthage continues on the road this weekend with another tough test on Saturday, as the Red Men join the Lady Reds at Augustana College.  The Lady Reds are set to tip at 5:00 p.m. with the Red Men tipping at approximately 7:30 p.m.