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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
  
Box Score

Nov. 18, 2011 - The North Central College men's basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Blackburn College squad in its 2011-2012 season opener in the Courtyard Chicago Naperville Tip-Off Tournament on Friday, but the Cardinals had the answer each time they were threatened and made off with a 91-78 victory at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals dominated the Beavers in the rebounding department, 44-27, and made 34 of 43 free throws in posting a higher point total than they did in any game last season.

Boosted by some hot perimeter shooting, Blackburn (1-1) jumped out to a 13-4 lead after the first five minutes of play, but the Cardinals' Derek Raridon knocked down a pair of jumpers and CJ Goldthree hit a three-pointer to cut into the deficit. North Central eventually took the lead at 21-20 on a three-pointer by Mike Boyd and extended the advantage to 26-20 following a Landon Gamble three-point play, completing a 22-7 run over a span of seven minutes.

The Cardinals led by as many as nine points before carrying a 50-43 advantage into halftime. Blackburn, however, charged back after the break and took the lead at 56-53 after two straight three-pointers by Dakota Tucker and a third triple by Billy Ray Willridge. The Beavers extended their advantage to 62-55 with 14:17 to play after threes from Willridge and Brandon Hill.

Aaron Tiknis' three-pointer and Charlie Rosenberg's tip-in helped get the Cardinals back to within two points at 62-60, but the visitors stayed a step ahead and bumped their lead back up to 68-63 following buckets from Tucker and Willridge with 8:48 to play. A free throw from Gamble and another three-pointer from Boyd narrowed the gap to a single point, and two free throws from Raridon briefly gave North Central the lead at 69-68.

Blackburn tied the score on the next trip down the floor, but Tiknis and Boyd drilled consecutive three-pointers to put the Cardinals in the driver's seat with a 75-69 edge. North Central tacked on the next seven points, including four straight free throws by Raridon, to pull ahead, 82-69, with 2:43 left. The Cardinals never led by less than nine points the rest of the way.

Raridon finished the game with 22 points and four assists. He was a perfect 14 for 14 from the free-throw line, tying a North Central record for single-game free-throw accuracy. Goldthree put up 19 points, making 10 of 15 charity shots, while Gamble put up 16 points and 14 rebounds. Tiknis finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots, and Boyd totaled 11 points.

Blackburn, which made 12 of 25 three-point shots, was led by Willridge and Julian Lott, each of whom scored 20 points, while Tucker added 11. 

The Cardinals host Trine University on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Thunder (1-0) defeated Aurora University, 79-64, on Friday.