KENOSHA, Wis. - The Carthage College men's basketball team earned a tough win at home Saturday night, topping Elmhurst College at Tarble Arena, 63-57.

The win moves the Red Men to 9-6 overall and 4-2 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Bluejays fall to 10-5 and 3-3 in the league.

On the win, Bosko Djurickovic stated, "Two good CCIW teams playing a very entertaining college basketball game, which obviously was better for us since we won.  It was just very, very competitive and well played game on both ends.  Both teams played better defense than they did offense. I thought we played nicely in the first half and less than in the first 12 minutes of the second half, when we let Elmhurst back in.  The last five minutes our decision making was excellent.  I thought we did a good job on the defensive end communicating and making their shot attempts more difficult.  On the offensive end down the stretch we got the ball where we needed to."
 
A tightly contested first half saw both teams build six-point leads at one point of the first 20 minutes.  Elmhurst jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the opening moments of the game behind a 10-0 run, while Carthage used a late 8-0 run to flip a four-point deficit, 28-24, to a four-point lead, 32-28, with 2:08 to play in the half before taking a 30-30 lead into the break.

The Red Men maintained their lead in the second half and even pushed it out to as many as eight on multiple occasions, but the Bluejays caught fire midway through the second and following a 12-2 run, took their first lead of the half with 8:02 remaining.  

However, the Carthage defense would clamp down on Elmhurst and a timely 11-3 spurt by Carthage over the final 5:17, led by Sean Johnson with seven points during the run, gave the Red Men the six-point win.

Kienan Baltimore led all players with 15 points in the win, followed by Jordan Thomas with 13, Sean Johnson with nine and Brad Perry with eight.  Perry was second on the team in rebounding, one behind Kruse who had eight.  

On the play of a few individuals Djurickovic commented, "Kruse made a few key baskets late after being limited in points most of the night,  Mason had a big basket late and the big man, Sean Johnson was the star of the game.  Not only did he have a huge put back late, he hit big free throws and blocked shots all night."

The freshman center, Johnson, also swatted away five Elmhurst shots and grabbed six rebounds.  Carthage had seven blocks as a team as Kruse and Perry each had one as well.

As a team the Red Men shot 39.7% from the field and held the Bluejays to 37.9% in the game and outscored the Bluejays in the paint, 28-18, and off turnovers 13-8.

The Red Men will conclude their three-game home stand on Wednesday, as Carthage hosts Wheaton College at 7:00 p.m.