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

Box Score

Feb. 9, 2011 - The North Central College men's basketball team kept its perfect record in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin home games intact on Wednesday, completing a season sweep of North Park University by knocking off the Vikings, 71-60, at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (12-9, 8-2 CCIW) are now 4-0 at home in conference play, and have won four straight contests and eight of their last nine. North Central committed a season-low five turnovers and led the entire second half after a back-and-forth first period.

After yielding the game's first basket, the Cardinals scored eight straight to pull ahead and led until Kendall Greer's three-pointer with 7:54 left in the first half helped North Park tie the contest at 16-16. The Vikings followed with five straight made shots, including two straight three-pointers by Shaun Collins, but North Central was able to answer each time at the other end and never trailed by more than two points.

Trailing, 26-24, the Cardinals moved back in front on Kevin Gillespie's triple, but Collins converted a layup on the next trip down the floor. North Central's CJ Goldthree connected on a three-pointer with 1:24 to play in the period, which was answered with a layup by the Vikings' Clayton Cahill, but Goldthree struck again from beyond the arc with 42 seconds left to send the hosts into halftime with a 33-30 edge.

The teams continued to trade jabs early in the second half, though North Central was able to stay in front. Gillespie sank three three-pointers in the first six minutes as the hosts extended their lead to 46-40. The lead stood at 50-45 when Derek Raridon came through with seven points in just over a minute to extend the advantage to 57-45 with 8:01 to play.

North Park (9-13, 3-8) bounced back and narrowed the gap to 65-60 with 2:44 to play, but were held scoreless from then on. The Cardinals made four straight free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal the victory.

Gillespie made 5 of 9 three-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points, his highest total in a conference game this season. Raridon added 17 points an Goldthree finished with 13. Brian Evans finished with team highs of nine rebounds and five assists.

Emanuel Crosby paced the Vikings with 15 points and Collins added 10.

North Central hosts Carthage College (13-9, 6-5) on Saturday. Tipoff at Gregory Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.