KENOSHA, Wis. - Despite trailing at halftime 43-42, the Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball team defeated Carthage College by a final score of 90-78 on Saturday, Feb. 11. Junior Brady Rose matched his career-high with a team-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Rose added two assists and two rebounds to his final tally. Five Titans scored in double-figures on Saturday.

With a win the Titans are now tied second place in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin standings, alongside Carthage and North Park, with a record of 16-6 (8-5 CCIW). With a loss, Carthage falls to 15-7 (8-5 CCIW).

In an offensive outburst, the two sides combined for 85 first-half points on Saturday with each team shooting greater than .550 percent from the floor. Senior Andy Stempel scored a team-high 11 points in the first to pace the Titans. IWU worked the ball around well assisting on 11-of-18 made shots during the half. The largest lead of the half was six points, held by the Titans with 8:18 to play. In a closely contested first, the score was tied 11 times. The Red Men bench scorched the Titans in the first, scoring 22 points to just two points from the IWU bench.

Rose led all second-half scorers, adding 17 points to his eight point first-half. Illinois Wesleyan opened the half on an 11-3 run sparked by eight points from Rose in the first five minutes of the half. Thanks to an and-one play from Rose the Titans took the final lead of the game with 17:58 remaining. Carthage brought the game back within one point soon thereafter, but IWU was able to fend off any hopes of a comeback from the Red Men.

Also scoring in double-figures for the Titans were Stempel (17), sophomore Colin Bonnett (15), senior Trevor Seibring (14), and senior Alec Bausch (11). Stempel had a well rounded game, dishing out a career-high eight assists while crashing the boards to haul in a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Jaylen Beasley and Bausch each tallied five boards.

What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan travels to Wheaton, Ill., to square off against Wheaton College on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Tip-off is 7 p.m. The Titans handled the Thunder by a 84-75 score at the Shirk Center on Jan. 4.