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

Box Score

Feb. 18, 2009 - The North Central College men's basketball team took a stumble on the regular-season home stretch Wednesday evening, losing its final home game of the year, 74-63, to 21st-ranked Elmhurst College at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (16-8, 8-5 College Conference of Illinois Wisconsin) owned a 9-7 lead with 13:33 left in the first half before Elmhurst's Ryan Burks and Chris Childs hit back-to-back three-pointers to put the Bluejays in front. North Central fought back to tie the score at 15-15 on a layup by Matt Rogers (Sr., Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle), but the visitors put together an 8-2 run to pull ahead, 23-17.

Elmhurst led the rest of the first half, though the Cardinals closed the period with an 8-2 surge to head into the locker room trailing by just one point at 34-33.

A tip-in by Chris Drennan (Sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community) briefly gave North Central the lead once play resumed, though Burks quickly scored to grab the lead for the Bluejays once again. The Cardinals got back to even at 50-50 with 12:44 remaining, and took a 53-52 lead following a three-pointer by Reid Barringer (Jr., Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) with 10:13 to go.

Childs countered with two straight baskets to ignite an 11-2 run which wound up putting Elmhurst ahead for good. Rogers scored six of the final eight points for the Cardinals, but could not bring the home team any closer than four points in the final minutes.

Rogers finished with a season-high 27 points, while Drennan put up 17 to go with seven rebounds. Barringer totaled a team-best four assists.

Burks led all scorers with 28 points. Childs totaled 15 points for Elmhurst (18-6, 9-4 CCIW), while Zack Boyd and Brent Ruch each had 10.

The Cardinals travel to face Wheaton (21-3, 10-3) in the final regular-season game for both teams on Saturday. Tipoff at King Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.