Box Score

Dec. 17, 2011 - Bolting to a large early lead and maintaining control throughout the contest, the North Central College men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday evening with a 74-60 victory over neighboring Benedictine University at Gregory Arena.

With the win, the Cardinals (4-4) snapped a two-year losing streak against Benedictine and reclaimed the Chicago Avenue-Maple Avenue Trophy, the traveling trophy between the two teams. North Central also celebrated a milestone achievement by junior forward Derek Raridon, whose 18 points made him the 23rd player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points. Raridon now has an even 1,000 points in 59 career games.

The teams played to an 8-8 standstill after four minutes, but the Eagles were held scoreless for the next five minutes, during which time North Central built an 18-8 advantage. Benedictine broke the drought with Mark Pace's jumper with 10:32 on the first-half clock, but the Cardinals scored the next eight points, including two straight three-pointers from Kevin Gillespie, to pull ahead, 26-10.

Benedictine knocked down a pair of three-pointers to slow the Cardinals' momentum, but the hosts followed with a 13-1 run that gave them their biggest advantage at 42-17 with 4:12 before halftime. North Central wound up carrying a 47-30 lead into the break.

The Eagles (3-6) never got closer than 12 points from then on, despite 15 second-half points from senior guard Nate Green. Green led Benedictine with 22 points and six rebounds.

The Cardinals shot 54.8 percent (23-42) from the floor for the evening and 88.9 percent (24-27) from the free-throw line while owning a 32-23 rebounding advantage. Landon Gamble put up 19 points to lead North Central in scoring, while Gillespie added 15 and Aaron Tiknis finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots. Raridon was a perfect 10 for 10 from the charity stripe.

North Central travels to Daytona Beach, Fla., on Monday and Tuesday for the Daytona Beach Shootout. The Cardinals will play the University of Scranton (Pa.) on Monday and Bridgewater College (Va.) on Tuesday, with both games tipping off at the ICI Center at 8 p.m. Eastern time.