WHEATON, Ill. – The Carthage College men's basketball team saw their season-long losing streak extend to three games on Saturday following a tough loss on the road at Wheaton College, 85-78.
 
Following the game head coach Bosko Djurickovic said, "Another disappointing night. We had chances to win the basketball game and couldn't convert. They made the big plays down the stretch when they had to."

The loss drops the Red Men to .500 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin at 4-4 and 11-6 overall, while the Thunder improve to 8-9 on the year and 4-4 in the CCIW.
 
Kevin Kozil led Carthage on the night with 21 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.  Two other Red Men reached double-figures in scoring, as Kienan Baltimore added 15 points and Brad Kruse had ten.  Baltimore also led the Red Men with six rebounds.
 
A slow start to the first half saw Carthage fall behind early, 7-1, and eventually were in a ten-point hole, down 19-9 just under midway through the first half.
 
Carthage was eventually able to find their rhythm late in the first half, as the Red Men used a 10-2 run over 4:38 to cut a 32-23 deficit to just one before a pair of Wheaton free throws sent Carthage to the locker room down 36-33 at the break.
 
A Brad Perry dunk and Jordan Thomas three gave Carthage their first lead of the game at the 16:58 mark of the second half, completing the comeback to go up 41-40.
 
Wheaton was quick to answer with a three on their next possession from Aston Francis, who led all players with 29 points.
 
Carthage and Wheaton would exchange blows for the next few minutes before a 7-0 run by the Thunder doomed the Red Men into a 61-54 hole with 7:07 remaining. 
 
Carthage would cut the lead down to four, however Wheaton wouldn't allow the Red Men any closer as they held on for the seven-point win in a game that saw each team commit 24 fouls and commit 23 total turnovers.
 
Carthage will look to snap their losing streak as they head into the second half of the CCIW season, with the Red Men heading to Carroll University Wednesday, January 25^th at 7:00 p.m.