Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Box Score

Jan. 16, 2019 - On a night when it struggled to get untracked shooting the ball, the North Central College men's basketball team relied on a stout defensive effort to get the job done against Carthage College Wednesday evening, fighting its way to a 67-63 victory over the Red Men at Gregory Arena.
 
The Cardinals (14-3, 6-2 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) shot just 35.7 percent (20 of 56) from the floor in the contest, but scored 22 points off of 15 Carthage turnovers and connected on 86.4 percent (19 of 22) of their free-throw attempts. Blaise Meredith collected a game-high four steals, while Tommy Koth came up with a career-best four blocked shots by keeping his hands active around the basket.
 
After leading by as many as six points in the first few minutes, North Central fell victim to a 14-2 run which pushed the Red Men in front, 19-15. Back-to-back three-pointers by Derek DeYoung and Mike Pollack got the lead back for the Cardinals, but a three-minute offensive dry spell enabled Carthage (7-10, 2-6 CCIW) to take a 31-26 lead with 2:13 left in the first half.
 
Still trailing by five points with under a minute on the clock, North Central got two free throws from Connor Raridon and a buzzer-beating three from Pollack to head into halftime tied, 33-33. The hosts opened the second period with a three-pointer by Matt Cappelletti and a steal and dunk by Meredith, which sparked an 18-4 run which spanned seven minutes and gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the night at 51-37.
 
The Red Men were able to close the gap to 55-52 following a pair of threes by Jordon Kedrowski, but consecutive successful trips to the foul line by Raridon and Aaron Jones prevented the contest from getting any closer.
 
Raridon finished the night with game-high totals of 28 points and 10 rebounds, turning in his highest scoring output this season. Cappelletti provided 17 points and Meredith also led the Cardinals with four assists.
 
Kienan Baltimore paced the Red Men with 18 points and Mike Canady put up 13. Sean Johnson, one of the national NCAA Division III leaders in blocked shots coming into the game, swatted eight Cardinal shots on the evening.
 
North Central plays the first of three straight road games on Saturday, visiting Carroll University (6-11, 2-6). Tipoff at Van Male Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.