FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

Jan. 4, 2012-- The North Central College men's basketball team opened its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin slate on a positive note on Wednesday night, grabbing an early lead and dismantling Carthage College, 73-50, to remain a perfect six-for-six inside Gregory Arena in 2011-2012.

North Central (7-5, 1-0 CCIW) scoring the game's opening four points and raced to an early 14-2 lead with 13:50 remaining, with Aaron Tiknis and Kevin Gillespie capping off the run with back-to-back three-pointers. The visiting Red Men (6-6, 0-1 CCIW) cut the deficit to nine off a three-pointer with 11:43 in the opening half before the Cardinals mounted a 10-0 surge to take a 19-point lead with Tiknis and Derek Raridon kickstarting the run by canning consecutive threes.

North Central led 37-25 at the halftime break before Carthage cut the deficit to just five with 16:49 remaining. The Cardinals responded with a 6-0 spurt before a Malcom Kelly three with 13:50 remaining pulled the Red Men to within seven at 47-40.

That would be the closest Carthage would get as North Central rattled off nine straight points and held at least a 14-point buffer the rest of the way en route to the 23-point victory.

Three Cardinals ended the night in doubles figures with Raridon pouring on a game-high 24 points while Tiknis recorded the night's lone double-double, tallying 14 points and grabbing 10 rebounds along with seven assists. Landon Gamble chipped in 18 points along with seven rebounds.

Luke Johnson paced the Red Men with 12 points while Max Cary and Malcom Kelly added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

North Central finished the game shooting 50.8 percent (30-for-59) from the floor, including hitting 16-for-25 (64 percent) in the second half while limiting the visitor's to just 34.6 percent (18-for-52) on the night.

The Cardinals hit the road on Saturday, traveling to Rock Island, Ill. to take on Augustana College with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.