GALLATIN – The Carthage College men's basketball team convincingly defeated Spalding (Ky.) to end the Music City Classic 86-64 Friday to end the month of December.
- Final Score: Carthage 86 - Spalding (Ky.) 64
- Location: Gallatin, Tennessee - The Student Activities Center at Welch College
- Records: Carthage 8-3, Spalding (Ky.) 5-4
- AJ Williams opened the scoring for the Firebirds with a jumper at the free-throw line.
- After a timeout, Ryan Johnson sank two free throws, narrowing the score to 10-9.
- Carthage responded with a 9-0 run, extending the lead to double digits.
- Ryan Johnson connected on a three-pointer to make it 26-13 with eight minutes left in the half.
- Riley Brooks knocked down a three from the corner, pushing the score to 32-16.
- AJ Williams came up with a steal, converted a layup, drew a foul, and completed the three-point play to make it 39-19 with under 3:30 left in the half.
- Griffin Daun added to the momentum with a steal and dunk, extending the lead to 20 as Carthage entered halftime up 47-21.
- Ryan Johnson tipped in a basket in the second half to put the Firebirds ahead 52-24.
- Tanner Lamb buried a three-pointer, stretching Carthage's advantage to 29 points.
- AJ Johnson followed with another three-pointer, bringing the score to 72-37 with under 10 minutes remaining.
- The Firebirds closed out the game with an 86-64 victory.
- Ryan Johnson had a double-double on the day, finishing with 15 points and 16 rebounds, a season-best.
- AJ Johnson followed closely with 14 points and seven assists.
- Riley Brooks chipped in with 10 points while Nemi Ostojic had eight.
"Great bounce back effort today! I thought the first half was one of our most complete halves of the year. Our rotations were solid and we did a nice job of keeping Spalding off the offensive boards. Offensively we did a nice job of getting some looks early in transition and shared the ball nicely. We also got a huge boost from
Ashe Oglesby! I thought it was his best performance of the year.
We said a month ago that we were going to find out a lot about our team during this stretch. We played 7 of 9 on the road against some excellent teams. We are a little banged up and this Christmas Break is coming at the right time! All CCIW play the rest of the way and it starts with North Park back at Tarble on January 4th."
- Carthage returns to conference action taking on North Park on Saturday, January 4 at 4:15 p.m.