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

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (Nov. 27, 2010) - The North Central College men's basketball team was undone at the free-throw line at Illinois College on Saturday, as the Blue Boys wore a path to the charity stripe and dealt the Cardinals a 79-70 defeat.

Illinois (2-0) made 36 of 50 free throws in the game, going 27 for 38 at the line in the second half, and led throughout in dropping the Cardinals to 0-4 on the season.

The Blue Boys scored the first 11 points of the contest and led by as many as 13 points before North Central rallied and closed the gap to 21-16 following a pair of inside baskets by Landon Gamble and a jumper by Jack Burchett. Illinois built its lead back up to 32-20 near the end of the first half, but a three-pointer by Kevin Gillespie and a buzzer-beating layup by CJ Goldthree cut the Cardinals' deficit to 32-25 at the break.

North Central got itself in position to threaten the lead on a pair of occasions in the second period, but the Blue Boys scored their final 14 points of the game at the free-throw line and limited the Cardinals to 37.5 percent shooting (15-40) over the final 20 minutes to keep the visitors at bay.

Burchett totaled 12 points and nine rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench, leading North Central in scoring and tying Brian Evans for the team lead on the glass. Vince Kmiec added 11 points and Gillespie finished with five assists.

Craig Bals was the top scorer for Illinois with 23 points, while Nathan Kohler totaled 18.

North Central travels to face Manchester College at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.