KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College men's basketball team found a way for the third consecutive game to win a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game in overtime on Wednesday night at Tarble Arena.  This time it was against #25 North Park University that the Red Men took down, 91-88, in double overtime to give the Red Men fourth straight overall.
 
The win moves the Red Men into a tie for second with North Park at 8-4 in the CCIW, with the Red Men taking both meetings this season.  Carthage improves to 16-6 overall on the year and the Vikings fall to the same mark.
 
All five Red Men scored in double figures including forward Mike Stevenson, who led the team with 22 points.  Kienan Baltimore had all 18 points off the bench for the Red Men and starting guard Jordan Thomas joined him with 18.  Rounding out the Red Men's scoring was Brad Kruse with 13 and Kevin Kozil and Brad Perry with ten apiece.

"I told the guys after the game, either we are the luckiest team in the history of basketball or we are a pretty good team because close teams win those games.  And boy! Have we played a lot of close games," said an excited head coach Bosko Djurickovic after the win.  "I don't know if I have ever played three consecutive overtime games in my 43 years of coaching and certainly have not won three consecutive conference overtime games."
 
Carthage came out with the hot hand in the first half as they built a 24-16 lead over the first 8:18 of the game with six apiece from Perry and Thomas and five apiece from Kozil and Kruse.  During the opening run, the Red Men shot a combined 10-13 from the field, while limiting the Vikings to 6-13 and forcing three turnovers.
 
The Red Men allowed the Vikings back in however, as Carthage went nearly ten minutes without a field goal and the Vikings taking the lead, 30-26, late in the half behind a 14-2 run.  During the stretch, Carthage struggled to get easy shots and went 0-13 on field goals until a Kozil three with 1:47 remaining broke the drought and pulled the Red Men within one at 30-29.  A pair of Kruse free throws put Carthage up one but a layup as time expired gave North Park the one-point, 32-31, lead headed into the break.
 
On the first half Bosko said, "I was very unhappy with our execution today.  I thought practice was excellent the last couple of days but our ability to find shots were certainly not good.  The first eight minutes of the game we score 24 points, then we didn't score eight over the last 12 minutes.  So we need to be more consistent offensively.  Even as we are 21 games into the season there has to be some tweaking done and we have to be better at what we do.  We have everything in front of us but there is still some very difficult games to be played."

A back and forth second half saw seven ties and 11 lead changes in a tightly contested battle.  Carthage was electric from the field in the second half going 10-18 from the field and 6-9 from three. 
 
It was at the 10:48 mark that Baltimore put the Red Men on his back with his first points of the night on a three that put Carthage up, 55-54.  Over the next 4:56, Carthage would outscore the Vikings 11-7 with nine coming from the forward off the bench.
 
Yet it was Carthage's ability to get to the free throw line that kept them in the game.  The Red Men finished the second half 13-14 from the stripe, led by Stevenson's 7-7.  Stevenson's final two of regulation put the Red Men up 70-68 with 51-seconds remaining. 
 
However, a pair of Joe Biko free throws tied it and sent it to overtime as a pair of Red Men shots missed in the final seconds.
 
In the overtime periods it was more of the same game plan that got Carthage back into the game, a heavy dose of Baltimore and success at the free throw line.  Baltimore went 3-3 from the field and 3-3 from the line including an and-one in the first overtime to give Carthage a lead, to lead the Red Men with nine points over the extra ten minutes.  As a team Carthage shot 7-11 in the two overtime periods, 1-1 from three and 6-7 from the line.
 
In the end it was a Kienan Baltimore and Brad Kruse that sealed the win as Baltimore hit a jumper to put the Red Men up two with 34-seconds left in the second overtime.  Following a pair of free throws split by Jordan Robinson, Kruse knocked down a pair with 11-seconds left to push the lead to three.   On North Park's final possession Robinson pulled up from straightaway three but had his shot blocked by Kruse to end the game.

On the play of his individuals Djurickovic stated, "Brad Kruse is, to steal a wrestling term 'The Ultimate Warrior'.  There is not a team that I have ever coached that Brad Kruse couldn't have been a really important piece to because he does everything you ask and then some.  He has become a better offensive player.  He has become a better free throw shooter.  And defensively, like you saw tonight, in rebounding and blocking, there are very few better players at our level of basketball. Kienan Baltimore put the team on his back in the second half on the offensive end and buried Jordan Robinson on the offensive end.  Jordan Robinson had been running loose for 30 minutes blocking shots and Kienan stuck the butt in, backed him down and jumped hooked him the one time and then got him with an and-one another.  He is just an offensive player that plays with a very, very good feel for the game.  Mike Stevenson has become just an absolutely good finisher.  He has taken the most free throws in the league and is an 84% free throw shooter.  Jordan Thomas was the best he has been in a while, making some huge shots when we needed them and Brad Perry didn't have the most exciting night but finished with ten points and five rebounds as freshman in a must-win conference game."
 
Despite the shooting woes of the first half, Carthage was able to outshoot North Park for the game 48.3% on 28-58 from the field and 52.2% on 12-23 from deep to their 46.5% on 33-71 field goals and 37.8% on 14-37 from three.  The Red Men also found success getting to the free throw line as they knocked down 23-of-25, while NPU went just 8-of-14.
 
Jordan Robinson led all scorers with a game-high 24 points but went just 1-8 from three.  He was joined by T.J. Cobbs to lead the Vikings with 20 points.
 
Carthage returns for their second game of the three-game home stand on Saturday as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.  Carthage will host Illinois Wesleyan University, as the Lady Reds will tip-off at 5:00 p.m. and the Red Men at 7:00 p.m. from Tarble Arena.