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

Box Score

ELMHURST, Ill. (Feb. 16, 2011) - Led by the heavy hitting of its top two scorers, the North Central College men's basketball team assured itself of at least second place in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin standings on Wednesday with a 68-64 victory over Elmhurst College at R.A. Faganel Hall.

The Cardinals' Landon Gamble and Derek Raridon combined for 54 points on 21 of 29 shooting to pave the way to victory. Gamble made 13 of 16 shots from the floor and posted the highest single-game output by a North Central player this season with 30 points, while Raridon piled up 24 points for his second-highest total of the season.

Playing their third game in five days, the Cardinals (14-10, 10-3 CCIW) enjoyed 64.3 percent accuracy (27-42) from the floor, but an uncharacteristically-high 16 turnovers and a spirited effort by Elmhurst forced North Central to fight to the finish for the win.

In a first half that saw five ties and four lead changes, North Central trailed by a 24-21 count with 5:44 remaining. A tip-in by Brian Evans launched the Cardinals on a 8-0 run, as Elmhurst was held scoreless over the next five minutes. The visitors wound up taking a 29-26 advantage into halftime.

The lead was passed back and forth eight more times in the second period, and the outcome was in doubt until the very end. With 6:16 remaining and the score tied at 55-55, North Central got eight of its next 10 points from Gamble as the Cardinals built a 65-59 advantage.

The Bluejays' Steve Crane scored in the post and Raridon answered with a jumper before Elmhurst's James Robertson canned a three-pointer with 53 seconds left to cut the hosts' deficit to 67-64. The Bluejays had three field-goal attempts come up short in the final 19 seconds as North Central closed out the victory.

In addition to his game-high scoring efforts, Gamble was also North Central's top rebounder (7), while Kevin Gillespie added seven assists. 

Crane was the top scorer for Elmurst (7-16, 2-10 CCIW) with 13 points. Mike McCurdy added 12 points and Sean Fendley scored 10 for the Bluejays.

North Central hosts third-ranked Augustana College (22-1, 11-1) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on Naperville Community Television's Channel 17 and at www.nctv17.com.