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

Box Score
 
CHICAGO (Dec. 7, 2019) - Overwhelming the opposition with strong first-half play, the North Central College men's basketball team secured its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) victory of the season Saturday by cruising past North Park University, 78-56, on the Vikings' home floor.

The Cardinals (5-3, 1-1 CCIW) broke open a close game midway through the first half and never relented, shooting 56 percent (14 of 25) from the floor after halftime and leading by at least 12 points throughout the second half. 

North Central opened the game with a 9-3 surge in the first four minutes. The Vikings (1-5, 0-2) cut the lead to a single point at 17-16 after Karl Polk, Jr.'s layup with 10:50 on the clock, but a 12-2 Cardinal run, sparked by six points and an assist by Matt Cappelletti, pushed the visitors' advantage to double figures for the first time at 29-18, and lead reached 42-27 before the buzzer sounded for halftime. Connor Raridon led all scorers with 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, and the Cardinals aided their cause by owning a 25-9 advantage in rebounding lead to 11 second-chance points.

Raridon wound up leading all scorers with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting while handing out a team-high five assists. In his first start of the season, Matt Helwig scored in double figures for the third straight game with a season-high 15 points, while Aiden Chang scored 12 points and Blaise Meredith grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Jalen Wilmington scored 11 points and Lawrence Pointer added 10 for the Vikings.

The Cardinals travel to face Aurora University (2-5) on Wednesday, with tipoff at Thornton Gymnasium scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Click HERE for live coverage options.

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