Box Score Carthage 73, Illinois Wesleyan 52 - Box Score

KENOSHA, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team was dealt a decisive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin loss at Carthage's Tarble Arena, falling by a 73-52 score on Saturday, January 8.

The Titans dropped to 10-3 overall and are 1-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin while the Red Men improved to 8-5 and are also 1-1 in the conference.

The game was close early and the Titans held their last lead of the game at 9-8 with 15:07 left in the first half before Carthage went on a 25-7 run over the next eight-plus minutes and led by 17 at 33-16 with 6:55 to go before halftime. The Red Men led, 37-24 at the half.

Carthage, who got 27 points from senior All-American Steve Djurickovic, led by as many as 23 points in the second half. The Red Men outrebounded the Titans, 41-29, and got 13 offensive boards. Carthage committed only 10 turnovers compared to just 11 for the Titans.

Senior Sean Johnson was the only Wesleyan player to scratch double figures, scoring 20. Junior Ryan Connolly scored eight and junior Jordan Zimmer had six. Senior Doug Sexauer was 0-for-3 from the field, did not score and was hampered by foul trouble throughout the game, picking up two fouls in the first minute and 11 seconds.

Illinois Wesleyan made 14 of 46 from the field (30.4 percent) and connected on only three of 17 3-point field goal attempts (17.6 percent) while making 21 of 27 free throws (77.8 percent).

The Red Men shot 45.5 percent (22 of 55) from the field and made nine of 19 (47.4 percent) from 3-point range. Carthage  made 14 of 23 charity tosses (60.9 percent).

Illinois Wesleyan continues CCIW play next Wednesday, January 12, with a 7:30 p.m. game at Millikin.

With the 27 points, Djurickovic is now ranked fifth on the CCIW all-time list (2,274 points thru Jan. 11), He passed both North Central's Bill Warden (2,249, 1951-55) and Illinois Wesleyan's Jack Sikma (2,273, 1973-77) in the Illinois Wesleyan game.
Only 15 CCIW men's basketball players have scored 2,000 or more points, with Millikin University's Leon Gobczynski's holding the conference record at 2,635 points (1971-75).