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

Box Score

Feb. 11, 2021 - Keeping its perfect record within the home confines of Gregory Arena intact, the North Central College men's basketball team fought off a comeback effort by a pesky Millikin University squad on Thursday to claim a 62-58 victory.
 
The victory is the Cardinals' 11th straight over Millikin dating back to the 2015-2016 season and improves North Central's record to 4-2 this season while the Big Blue drop to 0-6.
 
The hosts led throughout much of the early going, though a 9-0 Big Blue scoring run brought them the lead, 18-15, following Demarcus' Bond's three-pointer with 8:30 on the first-half clock. The Cardinals, however,  countered with a surge of 13 straight points, including nine by Blaise Meredith. The Cardinals wound up taking a 31-22 advantage after halftime.
 
North Central led throughout the second half, though never by more than 10 points. The Big Blue rallied to narrow the gap to as little as three points, though the Cardinals made five free throws in the final 45 seconds to preserve the victory.
 
Meredith finished with a game-high 18 points, 14 of which came in the first half. Will Clausel, making his first appearance in North Central's starting lineup this season, put up 10 points while Matt Helwig finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
 
Calvin Fisher led the Big Blue with 16 points and Jake Hampton contributed 10. The Cardinals limited Millikin to 36.2 percent shooting (21 of 58) from the floor in the contest.
 
The teams are set to play a return engagement at Millikin on Saturday. Tipoff at the Griswold Center is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Click HERE for live coverage options.

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