FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
CHICAGO (Feb. 8, 2014) - Setting one single-game school record and tying another, the North Central College men's basketball team kept itself in the thick of the race for the final qualifying spot in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament on Saturday, posting an 83-62 victory at North Park University to complete a season sweep of the Vikings.
The Cardinals (12-10, 5-6 CCIW) wore a path to the free-throw line all night long, attempting a school-record 48 charity shots and making 32. North Central shot 59.5 percent (22-37) from the floor in the contest, tying another school record by shooting 70.0 percent (7-10) from three-point range.
Vince Kmiec knocked down three three-pointers in the first eight minutes of play, enabling North Central to take an early 14-5 lead. The Cardinals took their first double-digit lead at 18-8 on Tyler Sutton's three-pointer and took their largest lead of the first half after Kmiec's steal and layup left the score at 26-14 with 7:21 to play in the first period. North Central held a 10-point lead inside a minute to play before North Park's Juwan Henry closed the half with two straight baskets to narrow the gap to 37-31 at halftime.
The Cardinals opened the second half by outscoring North Park, 18-5, getting nine points from Jack Burchett and six from Landon Gamble. The Vikings' Garrett Gatz scored five straight points to key a 10-0 run which got the hosts within nine points at 55-46 with 8:52 to play. Leading, 59-51, North Central regained its breathing room with a 7-0 run, and led by double digits the rest of the way.
North Central made 7 of 8 free throws with six seconds to play, including a 5 of 6 effort from Tyler Sutton, after a series of fouls on the Vikings, including three technical fouls.The Cardinals shot 64.7 percent (11-17) from the field and connected on 22 of 32 free throws in the final 20 minutes.
Kmiec scored a game-high 21 points, making 4 of 5 three-point shots, while Gamble scored 20. Sutton tacked on 11 points and Burchett scored 10. Burchett and Gamble shared the team lead with eight rebounds as the Cardinals won the battle on the boards, 29-15, and Burchett also led North Central with five assists.
Henry scored 20 points for North Park (4-17, 1-9), which also got 10 points from Gatz.
The Cardinals host sixth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University (18-3, 8-2) on Wednesday. Tipoff at Gregory Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. Links to live video, audio and in-game statistics can be found by clicking HERE.
