FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
KENOSHA, Wis. (Feb. 11, 2009) - The North Central College men's basketball team gave its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament chances a boost Wednesday evening, improving to 3-3 in CCIW road games with a 65-57 victory at Carthage College.
The Cardinals (15-7, 7-4 CCIW) got their first double-double of the season from Chris Drennan (Sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community), who finished with 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, becoming the 21st North Central College player with at least 1,000 career points (1,015).
The teams played to an 8-8 stalemate before North Central scored 11 straight points to take a 19-8 lead with 11:12 left in the first half. The Red Men rallied with a 14-2 surge of their own to move back in front, 22-21, but a layup by Matt Rogers (Sr., Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle) ignited a 7-0 run for the Cardinals. North Central owned a 33-29 advantage at halftime.
David Twyman (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) scored four points in a 7-0 Cardinal surge at the start of the second half, which gave North Central a 40-29 edge. The visitors led by as many as 14 points before Carthage battled back and narrowed its deficit to 51-47 with 3:38 left. The Cardinals, however, made 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch to stay in front the rest of the way.
Making his first start of the season, Rogers turned in 14 points and five assists, while Reid Barringer (Jr., Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) put up 11 points.
Steve Djurickovic paced Carthage (14-8, 6-5 CCIW) with 36 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
North Central hosts Augustana College (17-6, 8-4) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
