Despite a strong second half, the Beloit College men's basketball team was unable to overcome a first half deficit in an 87-64 loss to Carthage College in the team's season opener Tuesday evening in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

The Buccaneers evened the scoring gap with a strong second half Tuesday. After trailing 39-20 at the intermission, Beloit was outscored by just one, 45-44, in the second half. The hot-shooting Red Men hit over 56-percent of their field goal opportunities compared to Beloit's 36-percent. The Bucs held an advantage from the free throw line opening the season with a perfect 8-8 performance at the charity stripe. 

The bigs in the Carthage lineup proved trouble for the Buc defense as the Red Men posted a 38-26 sway in points in the paint. Beloit narrowed the gap with a 16-13 advantage in points off turnovers and a 9-4 gap in second chance points. 

Individually, senior forward Tristan Shoup had the best season opener in his career with 18 points, including 14 in the second half, nine rebounds, three steals and one block. Junior Andrew Walters posted his ninth double figure rebound game in the last 10 contests dating back to last season with 14 on Tuesday. He added eight assists against Carthage, the second-most in his career. Mason Jones added 10 points for the Bucs on a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line and 2-2 from three-point range. 

Beloit continues its tough non-conference slate Saturday at Coe. The Kohawks topped league foe Grinnell in their season opener last weekend. The Bucs will head to Waukesha to take on Wisconsin Lutheran on November 23 before hosting Rockford University November 26 in the team's home opener.