DECATUR, Ill. – The Carthage College men's basketball team dropped their third-straight game on Sunday evening, as the Red Men fell to Millikin University, 89-79, in a game that was delayed a day due to weather.
The loss drops the Red Men to 7-11 overall and 2-7 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Big Blue improves to 8-10 and 4-5 in the league.
Sean Johnson led the Red Men with a career-high 19 points on 9-14 shooting and a team-high six rebounds.
Kienan Baltimore and
Jordon Kedrowski each poured in 15 points as Baltimore finished 5-11 from the field and 5-6 from the strip, while Kedrowski was 6-16 and 3-8 from deep.
TJ Best and
Josh Sobecki, who appeared in his third career game, each set new career-highs with eight points.
With his one block on Sunday,
Sean Johnson tied the single-season Carthage record, giving him 64 on the year and tying him with Luke Johnson who set the record during the 2011-12 season.
Carthage opened the game hot with a 13-5 lead in the opening five minutes but Millikin battled back and forced a tightly contested first half until the Big Blue took a nine-point lead on a 12-2 run to close the half for a 50-41 lead. Baltimore led Carthage with 11 points in the half and Sobecki posted all eight of his points in the opening 20 minutes on 3-3 shooting and 2-2 at the line.
Carthage battled back in the second half and on multiple occasions got the deficit to a one-possession game, but still trailed by three, 80-77, with 1:54 remaining. After a missed jumper to try and pull it within one, Millikin hit a tightly contested fadeaway three from the corner as the shot clock expired to go up six with less than a minute remaining before free throws in the final minute pushed it to a ten-point loss for the Red Men.
Carthage finished 31-61 from the field for 50.8% and were 7-17 from three at 41.2%, while the Big Blue were 51-56 for 55.4% from the field and 10-22 from three for 45.5%. Carthage won the battle in the paint, 44-38, but were outscored off the bench 31-16.
Carthage will return to action next weekend when they return home to Tarble Arena to face Wheaton College. Tip-off for the Red Men will be at 7:00 p.m., following the Lady Reds and Thunder at 5:00 p.m.
