Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Jan. 4, 2023) - Winning on the road for the third time in its current four-game winning streak, the North Central College men's basketball team overtook Augustana College down the stretch and pulled away for an 83-69 victory over the Vikings at the Carver Center.
The Cardinals (8-5, 3-2 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) have now won three of their last four visits to Rock Island and nine of their last 10 games against Augustana overall.
Wednesday's game started slow for North Central, which trailed, 34-24, with 4:41 left in the first half. The Cardinals' next two possessions produced two free throws by Ethan Helwig and an inside jumper by Nick Smoldt, and a three-pointer by Shea Cupples shaved the deficit to 34-31 with 2:28 on the clock.
A triple by Smoldt cut the Vikings' edge to 36-34 with 1:03 left, and another three by Erikas Gurskas gave North Central a 37-36 lead with 16 seconds to go. Augustana, however, went into halftime with the lead after Tyler Knuth drove the lane for a layup shortly before time expired.
A three-point play by Mitch Lewis tied the contest at 50-50 with 13:27 left in the game. Matt Helwig's driving layup was answered by the Vikings' Matt Hanushewsky before Smoldt's pullup jumper and Ethan Helwig's three-pointer from the left wing put the visitors up for good at 57-52.
A four-point play by John Blumeyer, a layup by Smoldt and a three-pointer by Matt Helwig pushed the Cardinals' lead to 66-58 and prompted an Augustana timeout with 6:44 remaining. Soon after play resumed, Smoldt buried a three-pointer from the right corner to give North Central its first double-digit lead of the night at 69-59.
After halftime, the Cardinals connected on 60 percent of its field-goal attempts (15 of 25), making 7 of 10 three-pointers and all nine free throws. For the game, North Central shot 56 percent (28 of 50) from the floor and an even 50 percent (12 of 24) from beyond the three-point arc after missing its first five attempts.
Matt Helwig led four double-figure scorers with 19 points while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Blumeyer scored a season-high 16 points while Smoldt scored 12 and Cupples totaled 10. Ethan Helwig finished with eight points, seven rebounds and a team-leading seven assists. Matt Hawkins led all scorers with 22 points for Augustana (3-11, 1-4 CCIW).
The Cardinals are idle until Wednesday, Jan. 11, when they host No. 12-ranked Wheaton College. Tipoff at Gregory Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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