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

KENOSHA, Wis. (Feb. 28, 2025) - The North Central College men's basketball team closed the 2024-2025 campaign in dramatic fashion Friday, battling No. 1 seed Carthage College throughout a narrow 84-83 loss to the Firebirds at Tarble Arena in the semifinals of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament.

Having already made tournament history as the first No. 6 seed to appear in the semifinal round, the Cardinals rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to tie the score at 78-78 with 2:47 to play before Carthage was able to pull away for good. North Central finishes the season with an overall record of 15-12, a five-victory improvement over the previous year.

A layup by Alejandro Diaz and a three-pointer by Drew Gaston pushed North Central in front early, 14-9, and the lead reached its largest at 23-16 after Terrance Moncrief sank a floater in the lane and Ethan Helwig pulled up for three from the wing within 30 seconds of one another. The Firebirds (21-5) rallied to tie the game at 35-35 with 2:17 on the clock, to which Gaston responded with a pullup jumper and a driving layup for a 39-35 lead. 

Carthage's AJ Williams, however, converted back-to-back three-point plays on consecutive possessions to give the hosts their first lead since the very early going. Tyler Swierczek grabbed an offensive rebound, drawing a foul, and made both free throws to close the first-half scoring with the count level at 41-41. Gaston made 8 of 9 shots from the floor and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in a 23-point first-half.

The Firebirds put together their first extended scoring run early in the second half, embarking on a 15-5 surge over a six-minute stretch to pull in front, 58-48, with 13:41 left. The lead grew to its largest at 64-52, though Swierczek scored seven points in a 9-1 run to narrow the gap. Facing a 77-71 deficit with 4:18 remaining, North Central got a stepback jumper from Moncrief and free throws from Justin Sveiteris, and after a free throw by Carthage's Ryan Johnson, Moncrief buried a three-pointer from the right wing to knot the score at 78-78 with 2:47 on the clock.

Johnson, voted the CCIW Fred Young Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year earlier in the week, converted a three-pointer on the next trip down the floor and wound up giving the hosts the lead for good. The Firebirds led, 84-80, when Gaston sank a triple with just 3.0 seconds left to make it a one-point game. Gaston dove to knock the ball loose on Carthage's inbound pass, but a replay review awarded the ball to the Firebirds with just 1.6 seconds left. A baseball pass to the opposite end of the floor put an end to the contest.

Gaston led all scorers with 28 points, the highest single-game total by a North Central player this season. Moncrief made 11 of 17 shots from the floor and achieved a career high with 25 points and Swierczek scored 14 points. Sveiteris grabbed a team-best eight rebounds and matched Moncrief's team-leading totals for assists (4) and steals (3). 

Riley Brooks scored 21 points and Johnson totaled 20 with 14 rebounds for Carthage, which faces Illinois Wesleyan University (21-5) in Saturday's CCIW Tournament championship game.

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