ROCK ISLAND, Ill.  — In the nightcap at Augustana (Ill.), the Carthage College men's basketball team picked up their seventh College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) win Saturday 86-82. 

• Final score: Carthage 87 - Augustana (Ill.) 82
• Location: Rock Island, Illinois - Roy J. Carver Center
• Records: Carthage 15-6 (7-5 CCIW), Augustana (Ill.) 7-15 (5-8 CCIW) 

 
 

• The Vikings started the game up six before five quick points coming from AJ Johnson, and Antuan Nesbitt shrunk the lead to one with 13:37 left. 
• Back-to-back three-pointers from Tanner Lamb and Johson turned the score over to 21-19 in favor of the Firebirds. 
• Both teams traded the lead back and forth until the Vikings went ahead by seven with under two minutes remaining in the half. 
• Johnson rattled home another three as the home team held a four-point lead into halftime. 
• Julian Campbell added a layup which tied the game at 52 in the second. 
• Four consecutive points from Nesbitt saw Carthage go ahead 65-59. 
• The Firebirds lead held at 10 until a pair of free throws from Johnson made it 78-66 with 1:53 left. 
• Augustana (Ill.) narrowed the gap to two with 20 seconds remaining; however, Carthage used clutch free throws from Campbell and Lamb to win 86-82. 

• All five Firebird starters finished with double-digit points: Antuan Nesbitt (19), AJ Johnson (17), Julian Campbell (14), Colton Sigel (14), and Fillip Bulatovic (12). 
• Campbell recorded his second double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds. 
• Johnson led Carthage in assists with five, followed by Nesbitt and Bulatovic with four. 
• Sophomore Tanner Lamb added 10 points for the Firebirds through 24 minutes played. 

 


"Another exciting CCIW game! So proud of how we handled ourselves when things got a little tough down the stretch. We could have folded, but our guys battled to the last second and came out with a gutsy road win. We knew Augustana wouldn't go away when we were up 12 with under two minutes to play. We had some tired legs and didn't cut as hard as we needed to against their pressure. 

Defensively, we had no control over them in the first half but couldn't have been better in the second half. Holding them to 34% from the floor in that period was the difference. 

We talked a lot these past few days about returning to what made us so successful in the early part of the season. We shared the ball way better tonight and shot over 50% from the floor. We also had six players in double-figures scoring, which we haven't done in a while. 

Big week coming up. Our last two home games starting with North Park on Wednesday. We know the style they're going to play and need to handle their pressure better than we did tonight!"



 

• Carthage returns home to face North Park on Wednesday, February 8 at 7 p.m.