Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
Nov. 26, 2019 - The outside shooting touch the North Central College men's basketball team enjoyed in Monday's victory over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology was conspicuously absent in Tuesday's matchup with Benedictine University, as the Cardinals struggled mightily throughout a 56-49 setback against the Eagles in the Battle of Chicago/Maple Avenue at Gregory Arena.
North Central (2-2) made 15 of 36 three-pointers in Monday's victory but missed its first 13 shots from the outside on Tuesday and wound up 6 of 33 from beyond the arc. Despite the offensive struggles, the Cardinals remained in contention until the game's final seconds.
The hosts opened the evening by scoring the game's first five points, though Benedictine got a trio of three-pointers from Mike Boatright in less than two minutes to take the lead for the first time. Aaron Jones' layup briefly tied the score at 9-9, but the Eagles (5-1) scored eight straight points while holding North Central scoreless for a four-minute span as Derrick Faulkner's layup with 9:16 on the first-half clock pushed the visitors' lead to 17-9 and prompted a Cardinal timeout.
North Central closed the gap to 24-22 on Matt Cappelletti's putback shortly before halftime, though another three from Boatright and a layup by Nick Kosich right after the break kept the Eagles a step ahead. The Cardinals closed the gap to a single point on two occasions in the second period, the second of which came at 41-40 after Connor Raridon's fallaway jumper with 9:03 to play, but Kosich came through with a three-point play and a three-point shot to negate North Central's progress. The Eagles led by at least four points the rest of the way.
Raridon led all scorers with 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Michael Pollack netted 10 points off the bench for the Cardinals, while Cappelletti finished with 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. Boatright and Eric Grygo paced Benedictine with 16 points apiece.
The Cardinals open an eight-game stretch away from home this weekend, participating in the Kalamazoo College (Michigan) Tournament. North Central will face Olivet College (Michigan) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, followed by a 1:00 p.m. Eastern tipoff with the host Hornets on Sunday. Click HERE for live coverage options.
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