GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Carthage College men's basketball team dropped their second straight game on Saturday, as the Red Men fell on the road in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Calvin College in overtime, 79-75.

The loss drops Carthage to 5-4 on the season, while Calvin improves to 3-6 with their third win of the year.

"Disappointing end to a good college basketball game," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "Both teams played well enough to win but we needed to make one more play at the end.  On to Florida!"

Carthage was led by a pair of seniors that put up career-highs in the loss.  Forward Brad Kruse scored 22 points on 7-13 shooting from the field and 2-6 from beyond the arc, while guard Derek Mason went 5-18 from the floor and 5-5 from the line for 18 points.  Besting his previous career-high of 13.

Sophomore center Brad Perry just missed out on a double-double in the loss, as the big man in the middle scored 13 points on 6-14 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.

The Red Men led for most of the first half as Carthage dominated in the paint, outscoring the Knights 20-10 inside, eventually building a seven-point, 23-16, lead with 8:51 remaining following a Steve Leazer layup.  The Knights responded late in the half with a barrage of three-pointers over the final 2:22 of the half to flip the score on the Red Men, ending the half on a 9-0 run to take a 41-33 lead at the half.

In the second half, Carthage fought to chip away at the deficit and took their first lead of the half at the 13:25 mark on a Derek Mason layup to go up 48-46.  It remained a hotly contested game until late as a foul and technical gave the Knights four free throws which they connected on to put the Red Men down 70-61 with 3:48 left in regulation.  

Derek Mason then took the team on his back and went on a 7-0 run of his own, including 3-3 from the free throw line, to get the Red Men to within two before Kruse tied the game at 70-70 with 45 seconds remaining.
The Red Men had a chance to win it at the end of regulation with the last shot but Brad Kruse's runner hit the front rim and fell short at the buzzer to send the game into overtime tied, 70-70.

In overtime, the Red Men started hot, as Mason and Kruse hit back-to-back baskets to give the Red Men a lead in the extra five-minute period, however the Red Men finished going 0-6 from the field, 0-5 from three and 0-2 from the line while being outscored 7-0 over the final 3:27.

The Red Men will return to action on Monday as Carthage heads to Miami for the 2017 HoopMIA D3 Holiday Shootout.  Carthage will open with Washington & Lee University on December 18th at 7:00 p.m. followed by Southern Vermont College on December 20th at 8:00 p.m.  Games will be played on the campus of Barry University.