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

Box Score

Feb. 11, 2012-- For the first time this season the North Central College men's basketball team tasted defeat on its home floor, suffering a 64-61 setback on Saturday to 19th-ranked Wheaton College in a battle of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin heavyweights.

The loss snaps the Cardinals (16-7, 10-2 CCIW) seven-game win streak and is the first loss inside Gregory Arena in 11 tries this season.

The tightly contested affair came down to the final minutes as neither team held a lead of more than seven points in the game featuring nine ties and two lead changes.

North Central grabbed its first and only lead of the night with just over two minutes remaining in the second half as CJ Goldthree converted a three the old fashioned way, draining a layup and sinking a free throw to break up a 56-56 deadlock.

Wheaton's (18-5, 9-3 CCIW) Jeremy Pflederer knotted the score with a three on the ensuing possession before a defensive block and a Aaron Garriott three pushed the Thunder up three and swung the momentum in favor of the visitors with 54 ticks remaining. The Cardinals misfired on a pair of three-point attempts before Wheaton sealed the game by sinking a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left.

The Thunder enjoyed a 32-30 lead at the half, leading by as many as seven on two separate occasions in the half.

Landon Gamble poured on a game-high 19 points while Goldthree came off the bench and tallied 15 points, ending the night 10-for-11 from the charity stripe. Aaron Tiknis tallied 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Derek Raridon dished out a team-high four assists.

Tyler Peters led the Thunder with 17 points while Tim McCrary and Pflederer added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

North Central hit 52.2 percent (12-for-23) of its shots in the opening half but was only 10-for-26 (38.5 percent) in the second 20 minutes of action while allowing Wheaton to hit 54.2 percent (13-for-24) of its attempts in the second half.

The Cardinals return to the hardwood on Tuesday, attempting to clinch at least a share of the program's second straight CCIW Championship against North Park University at 7:30 p.m. in Chicago.