FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
CHICAGO (Feb. 4, 2009) - Riding a career-high scoring effort from Chris Drennan (Sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community), the North Central College men's basketball team bounced back from a Saturday loss to Millikin University with a 71-61 victory over North Park University on Wednesday at the North Park Gymnasium.
Drennan tallied 28 points on 11 of 14 shooting, helping the Cardinals (14-6, 6-3 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) overtake a stubborn North Park squad and move into a three-way tie for second place in the CCIW standings with Carthage College and Wheaton College.
An 8-0 run early in the first half moved North Central in front of the Vikings, 12-7, and the Cardinals led by as many as nine points before the Vikings (8-13, 0-10 CCIW) rallied late in the period. A three-pointer by NPU's Roshawn Russell cut the hosts' deficit to 36-34 in the final minute before halftime, but a putback by Mitch Raridon (Sr., Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast) at the buzzer sent the Cardinals into the break ahead, 38-34.
Viking forward Phil Schniedermeier opened the second period with a bair of buckets to tie the contest at 38-38, but a three-pointer by Reid Barringer (Jr., Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) quickly restored North Central's lead and launched a 10-2 scoring run. North Park trailed by a 61-56 count with six minutes left when Drennan scored four straight points and Barringer added a three-pointer to give the Cardinals their largest lead at 68-57 with 2:37 left.
As a team, the Cardinals shot 53.8 percent (28-52) from the floor and made 7 of 13 three-pointers. Raridon supplemented Drennan's scoring performance with 13 points, while Barringer scored 12. Raridon and David Twyman (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) each finished with seven rebounds and Raridon also added four steals.
The Vikings were paced by D.J. Cooper's 23 points. Russell totaled 16 points and Schniedermeier scored 11. Nick Williams provided 11 rebounds.
The Cardinals host Illinois Wesleyan University (11-9, 3-6) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Titans lost, 74-67, to Carthage on Wednesday.
