Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
ALBION, Mich. (Dec. 17, 2018) - Less than 48 hours after putting away an opponent with a convincing stretch of first-half play, the North Central College men's basketball team dispatched another foe with a similar second-half rally, as the Cardinals upended Albion College, 77-58, at Kresge Gymnasium for a third straight victory.
A 7-2 run by the hosts tied the score at 42-42 with 17:51 to play and prompted a North Central timeout. The Cardinals emerged from the stoppage with 13 straight points and wound up outscoring Albion, 23-2, over the next nine minutes to take control for good. Connor Raridon opened the siege with a pair of layups, and Aaron Jones followed with a three-point play and assists to Blaise Meredith for a three-pointer and a jumper from the left corner.
Raridon scored inside twice more, Matt Cappelletti came up with a steal and layup, and Tommy Koth scored four straight points to put North Central in front, 65-44, with 8:50 to play and the visitors led by at least 15 points from then on.
The Cardinals (9-1) led for nearly 37 minutes of the 40-minute contest, taking the lead early as Raridon put up seven points and three assists in the first seven minutes while staking North Central to a 16-9 advantage. The lead reached as much as 10 points before the Britons rallied and took the lead for the first time at 33-31 with 3:02 left in the first half. With the score deadlocked at 35-35, Cappelletti closed the period with a three-pointer and a driving layup to send the Cardinals into halftime with a 40-35 edge.
North Central shot a season-best 56.6 percent (30 of 53) from the floor, including a 10 for 24 effort (41.7 percent) from three-point range, while limiting the Britons to 36.7 percent accuracy (22 of 60). Cappelletti turned in a career-high 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting (5 of 7 from behind the three-point line), while Raridon's 17 points and 12 rebounds comprised his second straight double-double and his fourth of the campaign. Jack Bronec finished with 10 points and Aaron Jones provided a season-high seven assists.
Cade Ebeling paced Albion (5-3) with 21 points and 11 rebounds and Nate Collins came off the bench to score 12 points.
The Cardinals take the Gregory Arena court for their final home game of 2018 on Saturday, hosting Illinois College (3-7) at 2:00 p.m.
