CHICAGO, Ill. - The Carthage College Red Men have something to build on heading into the offseason, as the men's basketball team put together a strong showing in Tuesday's season finale to top North Park University, 85-75.

The win concludes the Red Men's season at 13-12 and 8-8 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Vikings' close the 2017-18 campaign at 5-20 and 1-15 in the league.

"Excellent effort for the last game of the season," said head coach Bosko Djurickovic after the game.  "Proud of the guys for their effort all year long."

Carthage built a 17-point, 55-38, halftime lead behind a very strong first half shooting performance.  The Red Men combined to go 18-30 from the field, 6-11 from three and 13-19 from the line to put up the large margin at the half, while holding North Park to 10-28 from the field and 5-14 from deep.  The sophomore duo of Brad Perry and Kienan Baltimore were dominant in the opening 20 minutes, as the forwards combined to go 11-14 from the field with 17 and 15 points respectively to lead all players in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half the Red Men maintained a steady double digit lead until a pair of late threes by North Park cut the Vikings' deficit to ten but without enough time the Red Men were able to hold on for the victory.

Baltimore finished tied for a game-high with North Park's Colin Lake, as both scored 24 points. Baltimore finished 6-10 from the field and 3-4 from three, while connecting on all nine of his free throw attempts.  Perry finished 7-8 from the field for 17 points.

After celebrating their senior day on Saturday, the career's of Brad Kruse, Jordan Thomas, Derek Mason, Steve Leazer and the Kamal Shasi came to a close with the win Tuesday.  Thomas finished the game with five points and tying with a team-high eight rebounds, Mason had six points, Leazer added seven.  Brad Kruse finished his career with a Brad Kruse-esque performance, scoring 18 points on 6-11 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds, dishing out three assists and recording a game-high four blocks.  

Djurickovic noted, "We have to say good bye to some really good seniors.  Brad Kruse is one of the best players I've had the pleasure to coach."