KENOSHA, Wis. –  The Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team walked out of Tarble Arena victorious after erasing a double-digit deficit to take down Carthage College in its regular season finale Saturday night, Feb. 22. The Titans overcame a 10-point Carthage lead to earn a 91-81 win over the Red Men and clinch the No. 3 seed in next week's College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament.

With the win, IWU pushed its record to 17-8 overall and 11-5 in league play. Carthage stumbled to 15-10, 7-9 in CCIW play with the loss and will be the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament.

The sophomore quartet of Cory Noe (Mahomet, Ill.-Mahomet-Seymour), Keondre Schumacher (Bloomington, Ill.-University), Matthew Leritz (St. Louis, Mo.-St. Louis University HS), and Peter Lambesis (Mt. Prospect, Ill.-St. Viator) paved the way for the Titans in the win. Noe poured in a career-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 3-for-5 from distance, in his first career start. Schumacher added 21 points, including five triples, while Leritz tallied 18 points and seven rebounds. Lambesis flirted with a triple-double, going for 11 points, six rebounds, and a career-high six assists, while also notching two steals.

Freshman Cody Mitchell (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles East) was clutch off the bench, pacing IWU in rebounds with a career-high 10 boards. Mitchell's double-digit effort on the glass fueled the Titans to a 42 to 30 rebounding advantage, highlighted by 13 offensive boards.

Illinois Wesleyan held advantages in points in the paint (34-28), second chance points (17-6), points off turnovers (16-6), and fastbreak points (22-4), while Carthage led in assists (24-18), bench points (19-10), and blocks (4-2).

Carthage controlled much of the first half, going up by as many as 10, before a three-pointer by Leritz got Illinois Wesleyan on track. Noe followed with a swipe and score on the Red Men's ensuing possession to cut the Carthage lead to one, 45-44, and force a timeout with 1:51 to play in the half.

The Titans trailed by two, 48-46, out of the break, but the deficit did not last long as Noe went 2-for-2 at the charity stripe to know the score at 48 all with 19:15 on the clock.

IWU benefited from the gritty play off the bench of Mitchell, who scored on back-to-back possessions to cap an 8-0 run and give the Titans a 62-58 advantage at the 12:24 mark.

The Red Men trimmed the Illinois Wesleyan advantage to one on three-point with 12 minutes to go. Lambesis answered with a three-ball of his own and senior Alex O'Neill (Peoria, Ill.-Peoria Christian) and junior Colin Cheaney (Batavia, Ill.-Batavia) added free throws as part of a 7-0 run to give IWU an eight-point cushion, 69-61, with just under 10 minutes to go.

A two and a half minute scoring drought by the Titans allowed the Red Men to pull within two, 80-78, with 3:19 remaining. That was as close as Carthage would get as a Noe triple kicked off an 11-3 IWU run to close out the 91-81 victory.

Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage will tangle again Tuesday night, Feb. 25, in Bloomington in a CCIW quarterfinals matchup. The third-seeded Titans and the sixth-seeded Red Men will tipoff at 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center. For more information on the CCIW Tournament click here.