FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
ELMHURST, Ill. (Feb. 22, 2014) - Taking the court for the final time, the seniors on the North Central College men's basketball team led the way to one last victory on Saturday, combining for a total of 63 points in a 80-76 win over Elmhurst College at R.A. Faganel Hall.
Pacing the effort was forward Landon Gamble, who compiled a career-high 33 points in his North Central record-setting 112th game. The victory was the 79th in the past four seasons for the Cardinals (14-11, 7-7 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin), marking the most successful four-year stretch in the program's history.
The Bluejays (14-11, 6-8 CCIW) wiped out an early deficit with a 5-0 run to give the hosts a 9-6 edge. Gamble's three-point play tied the score at 9-9, but a layup by Pat Coleman and two free throws by Will Nixon put Elmhurst back ahead, 13-9, with 13:37 on the first-half clock.
Over the next six minutes, North Central got itself back in front by locking down its own half of the floor. The Cardinals limited Elmhurst to 0 for 5 shooting with three turnovers while scoring 11 unanswered points. Tyler Sutton put the Cardinals in front with a three-pointer, and a putback by Gamble and two free throws by Vince Kmiec gave the Cardinals a 20-13 edge.
Elmhurst rode out a 1 for 11 shooting stretch and bounced back to cut the lead to 22-19, but the Cardinals continued to feed the ball to Gamble, who scored six points in an 8-0 rally that extended North Central's lead to 30-19 before the first half ended with a 32-23 score in the visitors' favor. Gamble put up 17 points and seven rebounds in the first period while North Central limited the Bluejays to 9 for 27 shooting from he floor in the opening 20 minutes.
The teams traded baskets for much of the early going in the second half. Gamble continued to display the hot hand, scoring North Central's first 10 points after the break. The Cardinals turned away a pair of Elmhurst surges which cut the lead to four points and owned a 72-62 edge with less than two minutes left before the Bluejays made their final push.
Elmhurst's Kyle Wuest came through with a pair of free throws followed by a steal and layup to start the home team on the road back. Williams sank two free throws on the other end, but the Bluejays countered with two charity shots from Nathan Rogers and a layup by Peyton Wyatt off a Cardinal turnover to leave the score at 74-70 with 58.9 seconds on the clock.
North Central missed 3 of 4 free throws over the next two possessions, enabling the Bluejays to cut the lead to 75-73 on a Rogers three-pointer with 31.6 seconds left. After avoiding a turnover wih a timeout, the Cardinals got a three-point play from Kmiec, who broke free from the Elmhurst pressure and got fouled while converting a breakaway layup. Two more successful free throws by Williams wound up sealing the win.
Gamble made 11 of 16 shots from the floor and 11 of 14 free throws while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. He became the fourth player in the Cardinals' history to score at least 1,600 career points (1,616).
Williams tied a career best with 17 points while handing out six assists, and Kmiec finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals. The Cardinals shot 56.3 percent (27-48) from the floor and 80.0 percent (24-30) from the free-throw line while owning a 31-24 rebounding advantage.
