Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
Mar. 2, 2019 - The near-capacity crowd which packed Gregory Arena Saturday evening was treated to a sample of the best that the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship can offer, as a fierce back-and-forth battle came right down to the wire.
The North Central College men's basketball team fought valiantly and gave itself several chances to pull ahead in the late stages, but Loras College made enough key plays to protect its lead and end the Cardinals' season with a 84-82 loss in the championship's second round.
North Central (23-6) took its first lead in the contest at 9-7 as Matt Cappelletti came up with a steal and fed Blaise Meredith for a fast-break dunk, but the Duhawks countered with a run of six straight points. The lead was passed back and forth three more times before a layup by Cappelletti and a three-pointer from Aaron Jones gave the Cardinals their largest lead at 33-28. Loras closed the gap to 36-34, but North Central got the last basket of the period on Connor Raridon's putback just before the buzzer.
Loras (23-6) scored the first five points of the second period, but the hosts countered with three-pointers from Cappelletti, Jones and Will Clausel and held a 47-43 advantage with 15:27 to go. The Duhawks, however, scored 10 unanswered points over the next 2:24, which gave them a lead they would not relinquish.
North Central trailed by as many as eight points, then rallied to pull within a single possession on nine occasions in the final 8:48, but was unable to level the score the rest of the way.
Raridon spearheaded the Cardinals' comeback effort with 19 points in the final 12:24, finishing with game-high totals of 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Raridon was a perfect 17 of 17 at the free-throw line, tying North Central's single-game record for free throws made and breaking his own single-game record for most free throws made without a miss.
Jones finished with 19 points, connecting for six of North Central's 13 made three-point shots, while Cappelletti finished with 11 points. Ryan DiCanio led Loras with 27 points, while Josh Ruggles scored 18, Cole Navigato totaled 15 and Demond George scored 11.
The Cardinals posted the second-highest single-season victory total in their history and established new single-season school records for three-point shots made (263) and free-throw percentage (.754)
