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

Box Score

Dec. 22, 2009 - The North Central College men's basketball team spent all of Tuesday evening playing catch-up against Benedictine University, but was unable to cover the necessary ground in time and fell to the Eagles, 66-63, at Gregory Arena.

Benedictine (5-4) took the lead early and never trailed, pulling ahead by as many as 10 points and withstanding a frantic Cardinal comeback in the final minutes.

After falling behind by as many as seven points in the first period, North Central (5-4) rallied and tied the score at 30-30 following back-to-back jump shots by Reid Barringer and Derek Raridon. The Eagles' Terry Licht, however, closed the half with two buckets of his own, one coming at the buzzer, to send BU into halftime ahead, 34-30.

The Cardinals began fouling in an attempt to stretch the game during the final two minutes, and narrowed the gap to 61-59 after Raridon's three-pointer with 34 seconds left. Benedictine built its advantage back up to five points, which Barringer answered with another three-pointer with 10.5 seconds left. North Central had possession with the opportunity to sink a game-tying triple, but the shot fell off the mark.

Raridon led all scorers with 23 points, while Barringer scored 17. Brian Evans snared a team-leading eight rebounds.

Nate Green, Cameron Snelling and Rob Bridgeman each scored 12 points to pace the Eagles.

North Central hosts Rockford College on Wednesday, Dec. 30, beginning at 7:30 p.m.