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Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 25, 2022) - Already the biggest upset artist in the history of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament, the North Central College men's basketball team crashed Illinois Wesleyan University's party in Friday's semifinal round and eliminated the Titans, 81-74, at the Shirk Center.

The Cardinals are the only team to win the tournament as a No. 4 seed, doing so in 2017. Seeded fourth in this season's event, North Central took down top-seeded Titans by scoring 18 unanswered points in the first half and preventing the hosts from putting together a legitimate comeback attempt.

The opening minutes were a struggle for North Central, which missed seven of its first eight shots and trailed, 17-8, after eight minutes of play. Coming out of a media timeout, the Cardinals (17-9) got a three-pointer from Blaise Meredith and a pullup jumper from Shea Cupples in rapid succession to cut into the lead, and a Matthew Helwig three-pointer from the right wing narrowed the gap to a single point. 

Cupples knocked down another jump shot off the dribble to give the visitors their first lead at 18-17, and Helwig followed with a 24-foot triple just 30 seconds later. Cupples later pulled up for a 17-footer and, following an Ethan Helwig steal, Matthew Helwig capped the rally with a fading three-pointer from the right corner.

Luke Yoder broke up the rally with a three-point play for the Titans with 5:37 left in the half, but John Blumeyer negated IWU's progress with a three-pointer on the next possession. The hosts narrowed the gap to 31-28 before Matthew Helwig's fourth three of the half extended the Cardinals' lead to six at the break.

North Central extended its lead to its largest at 59-45 after back-to-back fast-break layups by Cupples and Matthew Helwig, both of which resulted from steals by Cupples. The Titans (21-5) closed the gap to 61-56 with 6:03 left, but once again Cupples responded by converting a three-point play. The Cardinals made 8 of 10 free throws in the final minute to preserve the victory.

Matthew Helwig made 11 of 16 shots from the floor and finished with game-high totals of 30 points and 12 rebounds. He now has seven double-doubles this season and is now 12 points away from becoming the North Central program's 30th 1,000-point scorer.

After putting up 17 points in Tuesday's win over Millikin University, Cupples did himself one better and totaled a career-high 18 against the Titans. The junior made 6 of 8 shots from the floor and 6 of 7 from the line. Meredith contributed 11 points and six rebounds.

Cory Noe was IWU's leading scorer with 21 points, while Matthew Leritz put up 16 points and 10 rebounds. Yoder and Cody Mitchell each finished with 15 points.

The Cardinals advance to Saturday's championship at the Shirk Center against third-seeded Elmhurst University (21-6), a 74-68 victory over No. 2 seed Wheaton in its semifinal game. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m., with the winner to receive the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

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