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

AURORA, Ill. (Nov. 22, 2011) - The North Central College men's basketball team lost a high-scoring shootout at Aurora University on Tuesday, watching a five-point halftime lead dissipate and losing by a 94-82 count at Thornton Gymnasium.

The Cardinals (2-1) trailed, 13-6, after the first four minutes of play. Landon Gamble scored three straight buckets to keep the lead from expanding any further, though North Central stayed behind until 7:09 remained in the first half, when Derek Raridon's three-pointer tied the score at 28-28.

Aurora's Contino Hunter knocked down a three-pointer to put the Spartans (2-2) back in front, but two free throws from Gamble and a layup by Aaron Tiknis gave the Cardinals their first lead at 32-31. CJ Goldthree added to charity shots and Raridon sank a jumper to extend North Central's advantage to five points, and the visitors led by as many as eight points before carrying a 43-38 edge into halftime.

The Cardinals enjoyed a strong start to the second half, as their lead reached 11 points after Kevin Gillespie's three-pointer with 18:03 on the clock. Aurora, however, rallied over the next five minutes and regained the lead at 57-56 following Hunter's three-pointer. Taj Baker and Ryan Crow followed with baskets to extend the Spartans' advantage to 61-56 with 11:59 left.

North Central countered with a 10-2 run which got it back in front, 73-70, but a steal and layup by Scott Laskowski and a three-point play by Hunter put Aurora back in control just 50 seconds later. The Cardinals narrowed the gap to two points on a pair of occasions later in the second half, but gave up six straight points down the stretch to suffer their first loss of the 2011-2012 campaign.

After not allowing a single second-chance basket in its first two games, North Central was outscored on second-chance points, 17-15, by the Spartans, who shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the floor in the second half.

Gamble made 12 of 19 field-goal attempts and finished with a game-high 28 points, while Goldthree made 10 of 10 free throws and totaled 20 points and four steals. Charlie Rosenberg put up 13 points and eight rebounds and Raridon added 11 points and six assists.

Hunter paced Aurora with 27 points, while Scott Laskowski provided 22 points and eight rebounds.  

The Cardinals host Illinois College (1-1) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.