Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Dec. 6, 2017) - The North Central College men's basketball team turned in a game effort in Wednesday's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) encounter at Augustana College, but the fourth-ranked Vikings had just enough answers to secure a 79-72 victory over the Cardinals at the Carver Center.

North Central (3-3, 1-1 CCIW) took a 16-11 lead after a turnaround jumper by Erwin Henry and five straight points from Connor Raridon, but it wound up being the Cardinals' final lead of the game. Two straight three-pointers from Brett Benning put Augustana in front and propelled the hosts to an 11-0 surge which gave them a 22-16 advantage with 8:57 left in the first half. The lead reached as much as 10 points before the Cardinals narrowed the gap to 40-36, but Augustana closed the period with putback buckets by Lucas Simon and A.J. Dollmeyer and took an eight-point lead into halftime.

North Central cut the lead to 47-44 on Aiden Chang's jumper with 16:08 to play before the Vikings (5-1, 1-0 CCIW) responded with baskets by Donovan Ferguson and Chrishawn Orange. The lead fluctuated between four and six points before Dollmeyer's three-point play pushed the home team's lead to 67-58 with 5:37 to play. Augustana led by as many as 11 points down the stretch.

Raridon led all scorers with 20 points, while Mike Pollack put up 12 and Erwin Henry totaled 10. Alex Sorenson put up six points and a team-best seven rebounds, becoming the Cardinals' 25th 1,000-point scorer all-time (1,005). North Central shot a season-best 58.8 percent (10 of 17) from three-point range.

Nolan Ebel scored 18 points to lead the Vikings, while Orange put up 16 and Benning scored 15.

North Central hosts Illinois Wesleyan University (6-1, 1-1) on Saturday. Tipoff at Gregory Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.