KENOSHA, Wis. — The Carthage College men's basketball team fell to Illinois Wesleyan 89-72 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) action Monday evening at Tarble Arena. 

Illinois Wesleyan (15-2, 8-1 CCIW), ranked No. 2 in this week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, built a small 7-4 margin to start. Garrett Horner tied it at 12 with a long-range bucket, then Carthage (8-9, 1-7 CCIW) went on a 15-4 run taking a 27-16 advantage capped off by a layup from AJ Johnson. The Titans battled back, getting it to five with a layup at the 6:36 mark. After Crishawn Cook sank a three-pointer putting the home team up 32-24, Illinois Wesleyan ended the half with a 13-4 run to go ahead 37-36 heading into the intermission break. 

In the second half, Johnson gave Carthage a one-point lead with a jumper at the 16:33 mark however, another 11-0 run for the Titans saw the score change to 55-45. A pair of free throws from Kyle Kostes cut the margin to seven with 11:32 remaining but, another 12-4 run for the visitors extended the lead to 69-54. The Firebirds rallied, shrinking the margin to 11 with a three-pointer from Colton Sigel, but Illinois Wesleyan went on to take the victory 89-72. 

Up next, Carthage hits the road facing North Park on Wednesday, January 26. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. 

Head Coach Steve Djurickovic 

"I couldn't be prouder of the fight in this group. We battled one of the best teams in the country, but they just wore us down in the second half. The last three minutes of the first half were huge. We rushed way too many shots during that time and allowed them to get easy looks on the other end. In the second half, they showed their experience, and we had no counter for Matt Leritz. We need to continue to play with this level of intensity for the last eight games of the year!"

Quick Facts

• Three Firebirds finished with 11 points in the game: Kyle Czerak, Crishawn Cook, and AJ Johnson.  
• Anthony Bernero added nine points off the bench while Kyle Kostes had eight. 
• Czerak and Johnson tallied three assists apiece, while Czerak led the Firebirds in rebounds with five. 

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