KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College men's basketball team dropped a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin thriller on Wednesday night at Tarble Arena, as the Wheaton Thunder held onto their lead late to defeat the Red Men, 90-81.
 
"The team that played better won the game," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic following the defeat.  "We had some individual moments that we excellent.  We scrambled late, which made the game closer than it really was.  But you look at the stats and they were plus-three on the boards and they are not a good rebounding team.  They shot 53% from the floor when we have been giving up 42% for the year.  So whatever we did defensively wasn't enough and give them credit, they did a an excellent job."
 
The loss drops the Red Men to 9-7 on the season and to 4-3 in the CCIW, while Wheaton moves to 6-2 in the league and 12-4 overall.
 
Kienan Baltimore led all players with 31 points, tying his career-high as the sophomore forward went 11-19 from the field and 3-6 from three.
 
The Red Men had to battle out of the gate, as a red hot Wheaton Thunder team shot lights out to open, connecting on eight of their first eleven shots including six three's to build 14-point lead, 23-9, 6:29 into the game.  Carthage didn't go away however, as the Red Men answered with an 18-6 to cut the deficit to two, 29-27, with 6:10 left in the half, but Thunder used a 10-0 run before the half to take a 45-34 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Red Men would come out and cut the deficit to three at 51-48 after a 12-3 run moments into the second half, but once again the Thunder would push the lead back to double digits as Wheaton built their largest lead of the game at the 8:43 mark of the second half, leading by 19, 74-55.  The Red Men would attempt to dig out of the large hole over the final moments, cutting the lead to as few as four after a Derek Mason three to make the score 83-79 with 1:09 left, but free throws by the Thunder down the stretch sealed the Red Men loss.
 
Behind Baltimore, Jordan Thomas was second on the team with 17 points and Brad Kruse added 13 points and team-highs with 11 rebounds two rebounds.
 
Looking ahead to the weekend, Djurickovic stated, "We are one game better than we were at this stage last year.  Now we have to bounce back down in Millikin and see if we can get ourselves a win to be 5-3 at the break.  Then we can see what we can do in the second half."
 
The Red Men will return to action Saturday as they travel with the Lady Reds to Decatur, Illinois for a Saturday doubleheader with the Big Blue of Millikin University.  Tip-off for the Lady Reds is slated for 5:00 p.m. with the Red Men to follow at approximately 7:00 p.m.