Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Dec. 15, 2015 - The North Central College men's basketball team continued its run of strong defensive play and had a trio of players lead the way in scoring Tuesday night, securing a second straight victory by defeating Albion College, 77-63, at Gregory Arena.
The Cardinals (4-3) limited Albion to 31.1 percent shooting (19 of 61) from the floor, including just a 24.2 percent clip (8 of 33) in the second half. Alex Sorenson, Jagger Anderson and Connor Raridon combined to put up 59 of North Central's 77 points, sinking 24 of the team's 30 made field goals.
Sorenson got the hosts started by making his first five shots to score 11 of the Cardinals' first 13 points. Anderson followed with a three-pointer and a three-point play to give North Central a 19-7 advantage after just seven minutes of play. The Britons (4-4) closed the gap to 32-29 with 2:38 left in the half but were held scoreless until the end of the period, as Sorenson's buzzer-beating jumper sent the Cardinals into halftime with a 37-29 edge. Sorenson totaled 17 points on 8 of 9 shooting in 13 first-half minutes.
Albion was able to whittle its deficit down to 46-42 early in the second half, but a three-pointer by Aiden Chang ignited a 10-2 Cardinal run which extended the lead to 54-44 with 11:09 to play. North Central led by double digits the rest of the way, pulling ahead by as many as 19 points late in the contest. Raridon led the Cardinals with 12 second-half points, while Anderson contributed 11.
Sorenson led all scorers with 22 points while also finishing with seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Anderson made 9 of 12 shots for a season-high 21 points and Raridon added 16 points. The Cardinals shot 51.7 percent (30 of 58) from the floor in the game.
Jordan Herron led the Britons with 15 points, while Travell Oakes added 14 points and nine rebounds.
The Cardinals travel to Miami, Florida for the Eastern University Miami Holiday Slam this weekend, taking on Hartwick College (Rhode Island) on Friday and Centre College (Kentucky) on Saturday.
