BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The No. 21 Carthage College men's basketball team fell in close contest to Illinois Wesleyan in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play Saturday evening at Shirk Center Arena. 

The Titans (6-2, 1-1 CCIW) started the game with a 17-9 lead. The Red Men (6-1, 1-1 CCIW) battled back shrinking the deficit to five with back-to-back layups from Sean Johnson at the 8:07 mark of the first half. Illinois Wesleyan stretched the lead to ten with 2:36 remaining in the half before going into the intermission break with a slim 45-40 advantage. 

The Titan lead grew to as much as 11 before Carthage mounted a comeback narrowing the gap to two with a three point shot from Jordon Kedrowski at 67-65. A quick 10-3 run for Illinois Wesleyan made it 77-68. The Red Men continued to battle back throughout the half as a three from Kienan Baltimore made it 93-87 with 47 seconds left. Baltimore later collected another three points to make it 93-91 with 24 seconds left but the Titans sank two clutch free throws to take the 95-91 victory. 

Carthage returns home to face Alma in a non-conference game on Saturday, December 14 starting at 6 p.m. at Tarble Arena. 

Head Coach Bosko Djurickovic

"It was a very good college basketball game in a tough place to play. I'm very proud of the way our guys battled late, but we couldn't make the stops needed to get us a win. You have to give Illinois Wesleyan all the credit, they came in and executed their game plan better than we did.
It was a terrific individual performance by Kienan Baltimore who kept us in the game. Sean Johnson was a force on both ends of the floor and Brad Perry really did a nice job finishing around the basket. We need to have a good week of practice and bounce back for a tough Alma team on Saturday."

Quick Facts

• Kienan Baltimore finished with a career-best 41 points which is the seventh most in a single-game in program history.
• Baltimore tied Steve Djurickovic with eight three-point field goals made in a single-game and also tied a CCIW record. 
• Sean Johnson recorded his third double-double on the year finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. 
• Johnson also collected seven blocks in the game which was one short of his career-best against Illinois Wesleyan set on February 2, 2019. 
• Entering tonight Johnson was ranked 10th in the country in blocks. 
• Jordon Kedrowski and Brad Perry each finished in double-digit points with 15 and 14 respectively. 

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