Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5324
(Written by: Sam Fretto, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu)

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Jan. 3, 2026)- Despite leading by as many as 18 points, the North Central College men's basketball team fell to North Park University in overtime after a late second-half surge forced an extra period of play in Gregory Arena on Saturday night. The Cardinals (5-8, 1-3 CCIW) got outscored by the Vikings (10-3, 3-1 CCIW) by 18 points in the second half and overtime combined. 

The Cardinals kept the Vikings close, never trailing by more than four points in the first six minutes of the game. Both sides traded buckets to open the game as Tyler Swierczek exploded for the Cardinals' first two baskets and scored seven of the first 10 North Central points. Trailing the Vikings 19-17, the Cardinals went on a 13-4 run across three minutes and 56 seconds to open up a seven-point lead, highlighted by a Seth Cheney three-pointer and six straight points by Sean Molloy and capped off by two Swierczek free throws. 

After North Park cut the lead to 30-28 with five minutes left in the first half, the Cardinals widened the gap, taking a commanding 41-31 double-digit lead, capitalizing on three shots from beyond the arc as Tyler Surin hit one, followed by back-to-back threes from Swierczek. North Central took the momentum into halftime, with their largest halftime lead of the season at 47-34. 

The Cardinals kept the rhythm from beyond the arc going as Swierczek hit his fourth three of the game, opening up what would be their largest lead of the night at 18 points. North Park stayed resilient with a 5-2 run, making the score 57-42, before Alejandro Diaz converted a three-ball to regain an 18-point advantage at the 15:58 mark. The Vikings had a response, going on a 9-0 run in the following 1:59 of the game. Tyler Di Silvio kept North Central's offense going, scoring a layup and a pair of free throws to make the score 64-51. 

The two sides continued to trade baskets, maintaining the Cardinals' double-digit lead and growing it to 14 points after Surin converted on a layup on three consecutive trips down the court with 10:24 in the game. North Park began the comeback at the 9:20 mark of the second half, surging to tie the game 76-76 with 1:52 left in regulation. Justin Sveiteris scored on a putback tip-in layup to give the Cardinals the lead back before the Vikings tied it and retook the lead in the next possession. Cheney hit a game-tying layup with 0:28 in regulation to force overtime for a straight game. 

Trailing 84-80 in overtime, Diaz cut the deficit to two for the Cardinals, sinking two shots at the charity stripe. North Park scored on the next trip down the court to take an 86-82 lead before Diaz had the response with a layup with under two minutes to play. Trailing 90-84 after a four-point spurt by North Park, the Cardinals failed to hit another jump shot until Cheney hoisted up a corner three with 0:05 remaining in overtime. The Vikings hit free throws to ice the game as time expired. 

Swierczek led the Cardinals in scoring with 21 points in 17 minutes played. He shot 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Cheney added 15 points, and Diaz scored 13 points along with eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals. As a team, North Central shot 43.8% from the field and 31% from deep. 

North Central falls to 1-3 in conference play as they get set to host Carthage College on Wednesday, Jan. 7, inside of Gregory Arena with a 7 p.m. tipoff.