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

Box Score

Feb. 22, 2022 - Beating one of the toughest defensive teams on its schedule at its own game, the North Central College men's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament with a 57-50 victory over Millikin University Tuesday at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals (16-9) managed just 35.7 percent accuracy from the floor against a Millikin team which has ranked among the CCIW defensive leaders all season long, but limited the Big Blue's attack to 35.8 percent shooting and forced 16 Millikin turnovers to end the visitors' first appearance in the tournament.

The Big Blue made four of their first five field-goal attempts and owned an 8-2 advantage after three minutes. The Cardinals held Millikin to just 11 points the rest of the half but was unable to find their rhythm on offense, taking their first lead at 19-17 following a layup by Blaise Meredith before Millikin's Calvin Fisher scored on a putback to send the contest into halftime at a 19-19 stalemate.

Trailing, 23-22, the Cardinals scored nine straight points early in the second half to take their largest lead to that point at 30-23. Matthew Helwig scored on a fast-break layup, then fed Meredith for a score in the lane before Meredith added a putback and and Terrance Moncrief converted a reverse layup. The Big Blue (14-12) rallied and tied the score at 38-38, but a North Central response consisting of a three-pointer by Meredith and two more from Matthew Helwig helped keep the Cardinals in front. 

Millikin made one final bid to pull back level, narrowing the gap to 48-46 with 2:27 to play, but a three-pointer by Shea Cupples dulled the momentum and Cupples and Matthew Helwig combined to make six free throws in the final 42 seconds to preserve the victory.

Matthew Helwig led all scorers with 18 points while also collecting team-high totals of 10 rebounds and five assists. Cupples tied a season high with 17 points, matching the point total achieved by Meredith, who moved into 18th place on the Cardinals' all-time scoring list with 1,211 career points.

Cole Laurence made 7 of 10 shots for a team-high 16 points for Millikin, while Fisher put up 12 points and 13 rebounds.

The Cardinals take on top-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University (21-4) Friday in the CCIW Tournament semifinals at IWU's Shirk Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Click HERE for links to live coverage.

Download the free North Central Cardinals app, available for iOS and Android devices, to receive up-to-the-minute news, scores and updates on your favorite North Central teams. Click HERE for more information