KENOSHA, Wis. - The Carthage College Red Men bounced back from a pair of consecutive losses on Wednesday night, defeating College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and in-state rival, Carroll University, at Tarble Arena, 69-65.

The win moves the Red Men 8-6 on the season and to 3-2 in the CCIW, while the Pioneers fall to 4-10 and 0-5 in the league.

"Tonight was an all-around good team effort against a very tough, competitive Carroll team," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic.  "Carroll is an 0-5 team in the CCIW and have played four games within five points, including tonight.  A week ago they lost at Wheaton 97-92.  Tonight Wheaton won in Rock Island [at Augustana].  What a difficult league this is!  We played well enough to get the job done and we have two more home games in this little swing.  Elmhurst is 4-2 in the league and Wheaton is 5-1, so that is what is coming up for us."

Kienan Baltimore had ten points in his season debut for the Red Men, while Brad Kruse led Carthage in scoring with 19 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and went 7-9 from the stripe.  Jordan Thomas rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Red Men with 16 points.

On getting Kienan Baltimore back after he missed the first 13 games, Djurickovic noted, "He just makes us so much better offensively.  He is such a good offensive player.  Not just for himself but for his teammates since he is a really good passer and can get things done.  He requires attention that we didn't have before he came back."

After struggling rebounding in their previous two games, the Red Men won the battle on the boards with a plus-eight advantage, hauling in 31 to Carroll's 23.  Brad Perry and Kruse each pulled in eight boards in the win and Perry added a season-high six blocks.

The Red Men overcame their second-worst defensive performance of the season, which saw the Pioneers shoot 50.0% from the field, connecting 26-52 field goals.  Carthage put together their third-best shooting game of the season to earn the hard-fought win, making 23-43 field goals for 53.5%, despite going just 3-13 from three.  The three made three-point field goals are a season low for the Red Men.

After grabbing an early lead in the game, the Red Men fell behind to the Pioneers at the 16:42 mark of the first half and trailed for more than eleven minutes.  Carroll built as large as an eight-point lead over the Red Men, which Carthage battled back through 14-4 run over 5:03, before taking a 27-25 lead on a Baltimore layup off an assist by Kamal Shasi.  The Red Men were able to build their largest lead of the half of six before heading into the break up four, 33-29.

The Red Men never trailed in the second half, building as much as a nine-point lead in the second half before holding on to secure the victory.  The Carthage defense continued to hold strong late, as Carroll cut the deficit to one-point multiple times, but were never able to draw even or take a lead thanks to a pair of Sean Johnson blocks and clutch free throws by the Red Men to clinch the win.

The Red Men will return to Tarble Arena on Saturday for their second of a three-game homestand when they face Elmhurst College at 7:00 p.m.  The Lady Reds will tip things off on Saturday against the BlueJays at 5:00 p.m.