Red Men Hand Titans First Loss Of Season
Jordan Kedrowski scored a game-high 20 points, including four during the final 34 seconds, as the Carthage College men's basketball team held off a UW-Oshkosh comeback attempt and pulled out a 64-57 win over the Titans Tuesday (Nov. 19) in Kenosha.
Carthage College (3-0), which never trailed after taking a 6-4 lead, led by as many as 13 points at 42-29 with 13:34 left in the second half and owned a 58-48 advantage at the 3:13 mark. UW-Oshkosh scored nine unanswered points to cut its deficit to 58-57 with under a minute to play.
Kedrowski scored in the lane to extend the Carthage College lead to 60-57 with 34 seconds remaining, and UW-Oshkosh's attempt at a tying 3-pointer by David Vlotho was off the mark on the ensuing possession. Jacob Polglase then hit a pair of free throws for a 62-57 Carthage College advantage with 21 seconds left, and Kedrowski put the finishing touches on the victory with two free throws with 11 ticks to play.
UW-Oshkosh (2-1), ranked second in the country by D3hoops.com, had its eight-game winning streak come to an end. The streak included a 96-82 triumph over Swarthmore College (Pa.) in the title game of last year's NCAA Division III Championship.
Kedrowski finished the game shooting 8 of 14 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the free throw line for the Red Men.
Fillip Bulatovic added 10 points and game-best three steals for Carthage College, which also received nine points from Kienan Baltimore and seven points off the bench from Joshua Washburn. Sean Johnson contributed six points to go along with team highs of nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks.
Carthage College shot 44.1 percent (26-59) from the field, 21.4 percent (3-14) from beyond the 3-point arc and 56.3 percent (9-16) at the free throw line. The Red Men held advantages of 10-2 in steals, 14-18 in turnovers, 8-5 in blocks, 36-30 in points in the paint and 20-6 in bench points.
UW-Oshkosh was held to 28.4 percent (19-67) shooting from the floor and 16.7 percent (4-24) from 3-point range while making 15 of 24 attempts (62.5 percent) at the foul line. The Titans, who owned a considerable advantage of 53-38 in rebounds (24-8 offensive), were held to their lowest field goal percentage since a .271 rate during a setback to UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 30, 2016.
Jack Flynn paced the Titans with 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field. He also added eight rebounds in 17 minutes played.
UW-Oshkosh's Connor Duax produced his second career double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Adam Fravert contributed 10 points and a career high-tying five blocks. Titan Eric Peterson had nine points and seven rebounds.
The Titans scored the first four points of the game until Carthage College responded with four points in a row of its own. Kedrowski ended the Carthage College scoring drought with a layup at the 17:23 mark of the first half before his jumper tied the score at 6 with 15:55 remaining in the opening period.
Carthage College then took the lead for good at 9-6 on Baltimore's 3-pointer with 14:52 left in the first half. The Red Men, who extended their advantages to 23-13 at the 5:41 mark of the opening period and 27-19 at halftime, held their largest lead of 13 points at 42-29 with 13 minutes to play in the game.
UW-Oshkosh pulled within 43-39 following a short Flynn jumper midway through the second half, but a pair of Bulatovic free throws increased Carthage College's lead back to 49-41 with 7:22 to go.
Trailing 58-48 with 3:13 left, UW-Oshkosh scored nine unanswered points to pull within 58-57 with 59 seconds remaining. Vlotho, who finished with six points, sparked the comeback attempt with a 3-pointer before layups by Duax and Flynn cut the Titans' deficit to 58-55 with 1:46 to go. Fravert later missed a potential tying 3-pointer with 75 seconds remaining, but his two free throws capped the Titans' run of nine consecutive points 16 seconds later.
UW-Oshkosh concludes its string of four straight College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opponents to begin the season when it hosts Elmhurst College (Ill.) for its home opener on Saturday (Nov. 23) in Kolf Sports Center.
Photo courtesy of Larry Radloff, d3photography.com