GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Senior forward Tim McCrary scored 18 points, with six rebounds and five assists.
Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team was unable to complete a furious second half rally on Tuesday night, falling 69-67 at Carthage College (12-10/6-5 CCIW). Wheaton (17-5/8-3 CCIW), ranked 19th in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, will travel to CCIW leader North Central on Saturday night for a key conference battle in Naperville.
Carthage's Malcom Kelly drained a three-pointer in the first basket of the game and Red Men never trailed in the first half. Carthage jumped out to a 21-10 lead over the first nine-and-a-half minutes of the game at the Red Men's largest lead of the opening half was a 15-point bulge at 31-16 with 3:05 left before halftime. Wheaton scored the final six points of the first half, capped by a
Jon DeMoss three-pointer as the half concluded, to cut the Carthage lead to 31-22 at halftime.
Carthage led 41-31, with 15 minutes left in the second half when the Thunder responded with a 9-2 scoring run to cut the Red Men lead to 43-30 with 11:20 left in regulation. Carthage built up a 12-point lead at 63-51 with 4:05 left in regulation. However, Wheaton responded with 10-unanwerened points to cut Carthage's lead to 63-61 with one minute left in regulation when
Aaron Garriott (PICTURED LEFT) hit a three-pointer.
Malcom Kelly scored on a jumper with 25-seconds left in the game to extend the hosts lead to 65-61. Wheaton responded on the ensuing trip down the court with a three-pointer by
Tyler Peters with 16-seconds left in the game, trimming the Carthage lead to 65-64. Carthage made a pair of free throws and Garriott made a layup on the next possession by each team as the Red Men held a 67-66 lead with six seconds left in the game. Malcom Kelly made a pair of free throws for Carthage to give the Red Men a 69-66 lead with five seconds left. Garriott was fouled on Wheaton's next trip down the court and was awarded two free throws with 0.02-seconds remaining in the game. Garriott made the first one, missed the second one as the ball was unable to be collected by either team and securing the Red Men win.
McCrary led the Thunder with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Spencer Schultze and Garriott each scored 12 points for the guests. Peters added 10 points.
Kelly scored 25 points, with four three-pointers for the Red Men. Mitch Thompson added 16 points, with five rebounds and Tyler Pierce scored 11 points off the Carthage bench.
Wheaton shot 51.1% (24-27) from the field tonight, with 54.5% (6-11) from three-point range and 61.9% (13-21) at the free throw line. Carthage posted a 51.1% (23-45) field goal percentage, shooting 61.5% (8-13) from behind the three-point arc and83.3% (15-18) at the charity stripe.
