Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
CCIW Tournament Information/Live Coverage
Feb. 23, 2017 - Little separates the four qualifying teams for this year's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men's Basketball Tournament, as the North Central College Cardinals look to play spoilers against three teams which shared this season's CCIW regular-season title.
Carthage College, North Park University and Augustana College shared this season's CCIW regular-season title with identical records of 11-5 in conference play and 18-7 overall. North Park and Augustana will play in Friday's first semifinal at Carthage's Tarble Arena at 5:00 p.m., with the Cardinals set to take on the host Red Men at 7:00 p.m. The semifinal winners will compete for the tournament championship and the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
North Central (15-10) closed the regular season with back-to-back overtime contests, losing a 78-74 decision at Carthage on Feb. 15 before prevailing by a 82-80 count on Feb. 18 at Illinois Wesleyan University. The victory turned out to be pivotal for the Cardinals, who secured the fourth and final spot in this weekend's tournament via a head-to-head tiebreaker with IWU. North Central swept both meetings with the Titans this season.
The Cardinals were led in each of their final two games by the efforts of
Alex Sorenson, who put up 24 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots against Carthage before totaling 27 points and 11 rebounds, making 6 of 10 three-point shots, against IWU. In the Cardinals' six February contests, Sorenson has averaged 21.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game, shooting 54.4 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from three-point range.
Erwin Henry is putting up 16.0 points per game on 54.0 percent shooting in February, while
Jagger Anderson is putting up 14.2 points and 4.7 assists per game.
North Central is 6-5 all-time in the CCIW Tournament since its introduction in 2006 and has won the championship three times (2006, 2012, 2013). Augustana has won the tournament five times, including the 2015 and 2016 events, while Carthage won the tournament in 2010. North Park is in the field this year for the first time.
The Cardinals are 0-2 against Carthage this season, losing a 85-75 decision at Gregory Arena on Dec. 7 before their overtime setback in Kenosha. North Central split its season series with North Park, losing, 76-73, at home on Jan. 7 and defeating the Vikings on their home court, 73-67, on Feb. 4. The Cardinals lost at home to Augustana on Jan. 4, 82-71, and suffered a 72-66 overtime loss in Rock Island Feb. 8.
