Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Feb. 7, 2024) - An extended scoring drought midway through the first half wound up being enough to put the North Central College men's basketball team behind throughout Wednesday's game at Augustana College, as the host Vikings pulled away for an 87-69 victory over the Cardinals at the Carver Center.
The Cardinals held a 10-9 advantage with 14:40 left in the first half as Tyler Swierczek did all the early scoring for the visitors on 4 of 6 shooting. A three-pointer by Augustana's Matt Hawkins ignited a 12-0 Viking scoring run which lasted nearly four minutes and gave the hosts a 21-10 lead as North Central saw seven straight field-goal attempts miss the mark.
Ethan Helwig connected on a three-pointer with 9:49 on the first-half clock before the Vikings strung together another 11 consecutive points to pull ahead, 32-13. A trio of threes from Tyler DiSilvio, Erikas Gurskas and Helwig in the final 3:05 helped the Cardinals (7-15, 5-8 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) cut into the lead late in the period, and halftime came with the Vikings in front, 42-30, having scored 17 points off of nine North Central turnovers.
Augustana (8-15, 5-9 CCIW) made 6 of 7 shots from the floor to open the second half, extending its advantage to 56-34, and led by at least 16 points the rest of the way as it made 17 of 32 field goals (53.1 percent) after the break.
Swierczek finished with a season-high 19 points on 8 of 16 shooting while also grabbing a team-high seven rebounds for the Cardinals. Tre Davis put up 14 points and five rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench, while Drew Gaston finished with 10 points and three steals in 13 minutes.
The Cardinals host Carroll University (13-9, 6-7) Saturday at Gregory Arena. Senior Night activities will be conducted prior to the 7:15 p.m. tipoff. Click HERE for the full 2023-2024 schedule and live coverage options.
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