Red Men Nip Titans In Overtime

Mike Stevenson's 3-point basket with 6.2 seconds remaining in overtime lifted Carthage College to a 68-67 win over the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team on Saturday (Dec. 31) in Kolf Sports Center.

After UW-Oshkosh's Taylor Jansen converted a pair of free throws with 0.3 seconds left to send the game into overtime tied at 59, the Titans scored the first seven points of overtime for a 66-59 advantage with 2:06 left. However, Carthage College closed the contest with a 9-1 scoring run to secure its first victory in the series since 2013.

Jordan Thomas made a jumper to cut Carthage College's deficit to 66-61 with two minutes to play. Following a UW-Oshkosh turnover, Brad Kruse drained a pair of free throws to pull the Red Men within 66-63 at the 1:19 mark.

Max Schebel split a pair of free throws to extend the Titans' lead to 67-63, but Stevenson drilled a jumper to make the score 67-65 with 39 seconds remaining. UW-Oshkosh committed another turnover near midcourt on the ensuing possession, and Stevenson connected on a contested game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing.

UW-Oshkosh (7-4) had a final chance to win, but Ben Boots' running shot from the baseline at the buzzer fell short.

Stevenson led Carthage College (8-3) with 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.

Kienan Baltimore added 16 points and five rebounds off the bench for Carthage College, which has won five of its 15 meetings with UW-Oshkosh. Kruse chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and three steals for the Red Men, who also received seven points, five rebounds and four steals from Thomas.

Carthage College owned advantages in field goal percentage (.400 to .365), free throw percentage (.875 to .750), turnovers (19-13) and steals (10-6).

The Red Men scored the first six points of the game and owned a 10-6 advantage before UW-Oshkosh tallied seven unanswered points to claim a 15-10 lead.

Charlie Noone hit a 3-pointer to increase the Titan advantage to 20-13 with just under 11 minutes left in the first half, and a layup by Kyle Bayak pushed the UW-Oshkosh lead to 24-15 at the 7:13 mark.

Schebel sank a pair of free throws to provide UW-Oshkosh a 33-25 lead at halftime, and the Titans maintained an advantage for a stretch of more than 20 minutes spanning the first and second halves.

Trailing 42-33 with 16:24 to go in the second half, Carthage College scored 12 straight points to reclaim a 45-42 edge with 11:56 left in regulation. The Red Men made 3 of 5 shots from the field and all four of their free throws during their 12-point surge while the Titans missed six consecutive field goals and committed three turnovers in the span of nearly five minutes.

The Titans forged three ties over the final 13 minutes of regulation but never took the lead until Jansen was fouled while attempting a tip-in after grabbing an offensive rebound. Jansen, who had missed his first free throw in 28 attempts with just under two minutes to play in regulation, drilled a pair of shots from the foul line with 0.3 seconds left in the second half to knot the score at 59.

Jansen and Schebel notched the first double-doubles of their careers. Jansen registered 13 points and 12 assists while Schebel had 18 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

UW-Oshkosh's Boots tallied 18 points and Brett Wittchow contributed three points and a game-high four assists.

The Titans begin their 14-game WIAC schedule at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday (Jan. 4).