KENOSHA, Wis. - The Carthage College Red Men outscored North Park University 48-17 in the second half to run away with their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin home opener on Wednesday night at Tarble Arena, 88-53.

The win pushes the Red Men to 5-2 on the season and 2-0 in the CCIW, while North Park falls to 1-5 and 0-2 in the league.

"We played very poorly in the first half.  I think we all agreed on that at halftime," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic following the win.  "It wasn't a yelling halftime, but it was one that we looked at and said, "we have played really well recently and we did not in that half."  We did a much better job in the second half."  

The Red Men were led by Jordan Thomas in the first half, as the junior guard scored eight of Carthage's first ten points in the game, giving the Red Men a 10-7 lead just 3:36 into the first half.  Thomas finished with 13 in the opening half.  After North Park took a brief 12-10 lead, the Red Men went on a 18-6 run over 5:45 to build a 12-point lead for Carthage.  During the run, the Red Men went 7-9 from the field and 4-6 from three with six points coming from Kamal Shasi and four from Brad Kruse.  North Park eventually began to find their rhythm over the final ten minutes of the half, as they cut the Red Men lead to just four at the half, 40-36.

The second half was all Red Men as a four-point lead at the half quickly became a lopsided affair as a 15-2 run over the first 4:48 out of the break put the Red Men up 53-38.  The Red Men ran away with it after that, never allowing the Vikings back in the game as second half runs by Carthage of 9-0, 10-0 and 12-0 throughout the half building as much as a 37-point lead before winning by 35, 88-53.

Thomas added 18 points in the second half on 7-11 shooting to give him a game and career-high 31 points in the win and the first 30-point game since Kienan Baltimore scored 31 against North Central toward the end of last season.  

Kamal Shasi also had the best night by a Red Men player in over a year, as the senior point guard recorded six points but registered nine assists and zero turnovers in the win.  Shasi's nine assists are a career-high in the Red Men uniform and the most since Kevin Kozil dropped nine dimes last November against Olivet.  

Brad Perry went 6-10 from the field for 13 points and Brad Kruse nearly missed out on a double-double with ten points and nine rebounds.

On the play of his guys, Bosko stated, "Even though Kruse and Thomas continued to be spectacular, tonight was Kamal Shasi's night.  It was the best game he's played.  He had nine assists and made a couple threes.  He did a very nice job defensively on Colin Lake.  And other people are starting to pitch in as they get time.  Jacob Polglase was good tonight.  Perry had his usual steady game inside.  Sean Johnson had a little bit of a breakout tonight with a beautiful move for a dunk.  Now we have to get ready for Saturday and it's not going to be easy."

As a team, the Red Men shot 54% from the field, going 34-63, and hit 11-24 three-point attempts, while dishing 18 assists to each other.  The Red Men also forced 13 turnovers by the Vikings leading to 22 points for Carthage.

The men's basketball team will remain home for a Saturday doubleheader with the Lady Reds, as the Red Men face the #4 team in the nation, Augustana College in a huge CCIW showdown.  Tipoff for the Lady Reds is set for 5:00 p.m., with the Red Men following at 7:00 p.m.