Game Notes (WBK): Wheaton College @ North Central College (2/25/21)

Final Score
Wheaton 69, NCC 61

Game Summary
Dressing just eight players tonight, the Thunder (10-1) got off to a bit of a slow start while the Cardinals (2-9) built a small early lead and kept it the rest of the frame, leading 13-11 after the first ten minutes. Wheaton turned it into a back and forth affair for a bit, though the Cardinals would push their lead as high as six with 4:22 to play and led by four with about two and a half to go. But the Thunder closed the half with eight straight to take a 32-28 lead to the locker room. The second half couldn't have started any better though, as the Cardinals scored nine straight to retake the lead. Wheaton fought back and made it a tight affair the rest of the quarter, as we went to the final stanza tied at 48. But as has been the theme for most of the season, the Cardinals went cold in the fourth, with the obvious sign coming on the opening possession as a perfectly drawn play saw Bekah Foley wide open in the lane, but she missed a floater, and the Thunder followed with back to back second chance buckets. NCC seemed to stay right in it with a three a minute or two later. But the Thunder put it away with a 9-0 run, keeping the Cardinals off the board for nearly five minutes, and late free throws iced Wheaton's 25th consecutive win over the Cardinals.

Key Players

• Hannah Williams (WHE): 8-18 FG (2-6 3PT), 6-8 FT; 24 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 2 stl. Wheaton's best player lived up to the billing, even though she wasn't the most efficient in this one. But she played the full 40 minutes with her team shorthanded, and her biggest play was probably a three that really sparked the 9-0 run, doubling Wheaton's lead late and pretty much killing any shot the Cardinals had at coming back.
• Annie Tate (WHE): 9-15 FG, 1-1 FT; 19 pts, 9 reb. The reigning CCIW Player of the Week showed up again in this one, getting a bunch of great looks in the paint and led the Thunder in rebounding to help give them an edge in that category.
• Allison Pearson (NCC): 8-19 FG (4-11 3PT), 1-2 FT; 21 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl. Pearson was probably the main reason the Cardinals stayed in this one. While not the most efficient night, it was still a good one for her.

Key Stats

• WHE: Outscored NCC in the paint 40-26. I was a little surprised to see that the Cardinals outscored the Thunder on second chances (14-4), so this more or less washes it out, but when a majority of your points come from in the paint, you're doing something right. North Central played pretty good defense, for what it's worth, with the Thunder making some circus-style shots as well. This also notes that NCC missed some opportunities. Speaking of...
• NCC: 3-9 FT (33.3%). Take the missed layups from Foley and others, add in six missed free throws (including a 1-5 mark in the final quarter)... and that's your game. NCC has done okay in other games from the line, but they're a 61 percent team for the season. That explains a lot of why this team is 2-9.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ NPU 65 (8-3), IWU 63 (3-3)
• CRL 73 (6-4), @ AUG 64 (3-5)
• ELM 65 (3-8), @ CAR 62 (2-9)
• BYE: MIL (8-3)
• MBK: @ WHE 79 (10-0), NCC 73 (5-5)

Final Thoughts
I keep getting myself all hyped up for the Wheaton games, knowing full well I'm going to end up getting hurt again. The Cardinals haven't beaten the Thunder since 2009, and not at Merner since 2008, a game that I called on WONC way back in the day. But in a lot of these games, the Cardinals have been in it and just can't close the deal. And unfortunately, I think that was the case today. I continue to be impressed with this North Central team though, despite the 2-9 record. This is a good team with a lot of heart, and an invested bench group. There's been other rough years, but this is a year that I think with a lot of young pieces that will be back next year, this could be a dark horse team for 2022.

The Cardinals will get one more crack to end the long streak on Saturday out at King Arena, and given the shorthandedness of the Thunder, combined with the fact that this is a feisty Cardinal team, they have a shot to do so. Coming up this weekend for me though, the men will get another crack at a currently unbeaten Wheaton men's team.

Tuesday will likely be my final game of the year, though whether it will be a CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament game or a men's date against Elmhurst remains to be seen.

Game Notes (MBK): Carthage College @ North Central College (2/20/21)

Final Score
Carthage 71, NCC 68

Game Summary
This one looked early like it might get out of hand despite the Cardinals (5-4) taking an early 6-3 lead. But the newly-minted Firebirds (4-5) began opening fire from beyond the arc, using a 14-1 run to help build what would become a 15 point lead at 24-9. But in the building of that lead that the Cardinal offense finally woke up and they began hitting threes as well, slowly cutting into the Carthage lead to make it 35-30 Firebirds at the intermission. The Cardinals opened the second half on fire, with an old fashioned three point play making way for back to back Brian Johnson threes, though after his second one he got a little too into it, got in the face of one of the Firebirds, and was T'd up. That stopped the bleeding and resulted in six straight for the Firebirds, who were able to retake brief control, though the Cardinals fought back to tie the game at 47, then took their first lead since very early in the game at 50-49. The teams traded a couple leads before Carthage started to assert control, though their lead wasn't huge. It was a three point game with about two and a half minutes to play, when the defenses asserted control until the final seconds, when Kyle Czerak hit a fallaway contested three at the end of the shot clock to put the Firebirds up six with just 34 seconds to go. NCC answered with a fairly quick three, got a miss on the front end of a one-and-one, and Blaise Meredith hit a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds to go to make it 69-68 Carthage... eerily similar to The Miracle on Brainard Street a year and a day prior. Unfortunately this time, Carthage sank two free throws at the other end, and a Mike Pollack three fell short, allowing the Firebirds to escape with the win.

Key Players

• Josh Washburn (CAR): 7-11 FG (3-7 3PT), 4-4 FT; 21 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. The senior rose to the occasion in this one, hitting a bunch of big shots early in the game, as he scored 10 in the first half, but kept it up in the second half. His two free throws with 4.9 seconds left sealed the deal for the Firebirds.
• Fillip Bulatovic (CAR): 5-15 FG (0-4 3PT), 5-10 FT; 15 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 6 ast, 3 stl. In last year's matchup, Bulatovic hit a bunch of big buckets to keep Carthage in control until the very end. This year, he still got his despite some inefficiencies, but also filled the stat sheet elsewhere. This guy is going to be a star in this league.
• Brian Johnson (NCC): 5-9 FG (all 3PT); 15 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. I don't think it's too outlandish to call this something of a breakout game for Brian. He hit a couple threes in the first half to help get the Cardinals back into the game, then hit those back to back triples early in the second half that cut it to a one point game, but his technical to some degree I think took the wind out of NCC's sails.

Key Stats

• CAR: Outscored NCC in the paint 28-8. There were a few ways I could have gone here. Carthage was not good at the line, and had the Cardinals won I would have highlighted an 11-19 day at the stripe. Instead, I have to look at how the Firebirds were able to find some looks at the rim when they needed to, combined with a good outside shooting day. The combination proved to be too much.
• NCC: 14-37 3PT (37.8%). This is a pretty good percentage, for what it's worth. But when 37 of your 52 shots come from beyond the arc... this isn't ideal. Granted, quite a few misses were open looks that a lot of other times would fall. It's also important to note that Firebird center Sean Johnson and his 6'11" frame were in for much of the game to wreak havoc, but still.

CCIW Scoreboard/The Belt^TM Watch

• @ ELM 81 (4-1), MIL 79 (1-9)
• Elmhurst retains possession of The Belt^TM
• @ WHE 81 (9-0), CRL 55 (3-5)
• @ AUG 74 (5-1), NPU 7 1(1-10)
• BYE: IWU (4-0)
• WBK: @ CAR 72 (2-7), NCC 50 (1-8)

Final Thoughts
File under: Basketball is weird. Following a blowout up in Kenosha without Blaise Meredith no less, I'm not saying this should have been a cakewalk in the rematch in Naperville. But the Firebirds also always seem to play the Cardinals really tough, especially in Naperville, and Saturday was no exception.

Another stat I didn't put in up above for Carthage that I do have to mention: the Firebirds had just three points off the bench on Saturday, and it was on Kyle Czerak's ridiculous dagger three (that I think even rolled around a bit before falling). Czerak went to high school with my brother, prompting a text from my dad postgame of "Foiled by the ACC grad." Foiled indeed.

It's yet another tough loss for this Cardinal team that started pretty strong, but has really been struggling of late. Things don't get any easier to close out the regular season though, as a home-and-home with a currently unbeaten Wheaton team looms on the horizon.

Game Notes (WBK): Carthage College @ North Central College (2/18/21)

Final Score
Carthage 70, NCC 62

Game Summary
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Cardinals (1-7) got a bit of a gut punch, as Carthage (1-7) started the game hot, jumping out to a 19-7 lead. But the Cardinals clawed back, scoring seven straight to close out the quarter, including a broken play jumper at the buzzer off a jump ball. The Cardinals took a brief lead at 21-20 early in the second, but Carthage answered, leading by as many as five late before taking a 36-33 lead into the locker room. The Cardinals opened the second half on a tear, scoring eight straight to take a five point lead before Carthage answered with nine straight of their own, forcing a back and forth struggle, with a late old-fashioned three point play giving the Cardinals a 54-50 lead going into the final frame. An early three pushed the Cardinal lead to its highest mark at eight. Carthage cut that in half before an NCC basket with just over five minutes remaining gave them a 62-56 lead. Then the bottom fell out; the Cardinals missed their final seven shots and committed four turnovers in that span as Carthage scored 14 unanswered to close it out.

Key Players

• Lauren Knight (CAR): 5-8 FG (3-5 3PT), 8-10 FT; 21 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl. One thing I noticed in prepping for Thursday's game was how young this Carthage roster is, which to some degree explains why this was their first win. But this was easily the best game of Knight's young collegiate career, as she notched career highs in most categories, specifically points. She was a killer, especially early in the game.
• Bridget Barrett (CAR): 5-8 FG, 0-2 FT; 10 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Another freshman putting up a monster game. While the 11 rebounds aren't a season high (she notched 15 against North Park earlier this year), the four offensive boards helped her team, and she hit a couple huge buckets, including what turned out to be the game-winner.
• Allison Pearson (NCC): 8-18 FG (5-12 3PT); 21 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl. Alli did all she could in this one. She was on fire for stretches of the game, and her fifth three of the game gave the Cardinals that aforementioned eight point lead. Unfortunately she went cold down the stretch, though it doesn't eliminate an all around good game.

Key Stats

• CAR: 8-24 3PT (33.3%). The overall number doesn't tell the whole story, because Carthage was hot to start the game. They went 4-10 from deep in the opening quarter as part of that early 19-7 surge to start the game. That makes for a 4-14 mark the rest of the game, which isn't great, but they hit when they needed to.
• NCC: 3-14 FG in 4th quarter (21.4%). The first half of the quarter was fine; the Cardinals hit three of their first seven shots and led by six when they hit their last one. And then, as has happened so many times this year, they went cold in the final minutes.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 68 (8-1), CRL 57 (5-3)
• MIL 81 (6-3), @ ELM 55 (2-7)
• NPU 66 (5-3), @ AUG 52 (3-2)
• BYE: IWU (3-1)
• MBK: NCC 73 (5-3), @ CAR 53 (3-5)

Final Thoughts
Okay, let me get this out of the way. While it didn't impact the outcome, the officiating, especially in the second half was... interesting. I saw the first ever over and back call made when the ball was ten feet from the midcourt line. While the official's names are not listed on the box score, let's just say it was a familiar face who has been alluded to in previous Confessions of a Sportscaster. The clues are there.

Carthage also lost starter Destiny Antoine early in the game to what appeared to be an ankle injury, and she did not return. Margueret Spear also looked like she hurt her collarbone in the first half, but managed to come back in and finish the game. Gutsy performance from her, so I tip my cap, and extend well wishes to both on speedy recoveries.

As for the game itself... this was a bummer. I was hoping that the spark from a Senior Day win would carry over, and for a bit it seemed like it might. But the theme of the year has been not hanging onto fourth quarter leads, and the Cardinals once again went cold when they could least afford to. It's another game though, that they were in, and their 1-7 record doesn't do justice to the fact that this is a good team.

The Cardinals will get another crack at the team without a name when they head up to Kenosha on Saturday.

Game Notes (WBK): Millikin University @ North Central College (2/13/21)

Final Score
NCC 68, Millikin 55

Game Summary
Celebrating Senior Day on Saturday, it was the seniors who led an early Cardinal (1-6) surge to build a 10-4 lead. The Big Blue (5-3) responded with a 10-0 run and seemed poised to take a narrow lead into the second quarter, with a late Cardinal layup making it 16-14 Millikin ten minutes in. The Big Blue followed that up with an 8-2 run to open the second quarter to build an eight point lead, but the Cardinals fought back, scoring nine straight to retake the lead, then trading threes with Millikin. A late jumper cut the Cardinal lead to one, but a late three gave North Central a four point cushion going into the locker room. The Cardinals were able to push their lead to double digits briefly late in the quarter, but a late Big Blue surge cut it to five going into the final frame. An immediate layup made it a one possession game again, but the Cardinals responded with a three, and after five straight from the Big Blue cut it back to one, North Central closed it out with a decisive 13-2 run over six and a half minutes to claim their first victory of the season.

Key Players

• Haydn Braun (NCC): 5-11 FG (1-4 3PT), 9-10 FT; 20 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. I feel like in a lot of games, layups are this team's Kryptonite, but they hit on Saturday, led by the senior point guard. Her one three came at a critical time, and she was able to get to the basket almost at will. Her 20 points are a season high, and aren't far off her career high of 23 from a year ago.
• Bekah Foley (NCC): 6-14 FG (3-5 3PT), 4-6 FT; 19 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 1 blk, 2 stl. Bekah's defense has been really good this season, but she brought it at the other end of the floor on Saturday. Her outside shot was falling, including at some critical moments as well, and she still provided some excellent defense too. A fitting Senior Day for her.
• Jordan Hildebrand (MIL): 2-9 FG; 4 pts, 9 reb (3 off), 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. It could be argued that this line should go to Millikin's phenom freshman Elyce Knudsen (15 points on 6-16 shooting), but Hildebrand has been the top player for the Big Blue the past couple years... and the Cardinals completely shut her down offensively. Hildebrand didn't score until getting the lone basket during the Cardinals' late clinching run, and she added one more in what was effectively garbage time. She still found ways to get involved, leading her team in rebounding and distributing the ball effectively, but this was probably her worst shooting night in recent history.

Key Stats

• NCC: 20 points off 18 Millikin turnovers. Millikin did not take good care of the ball on Saturday; they threw a handful of passes out of bounds, got whistled for a few traveling calls and such, while the Cardinals only recorded five steals. But the Cardinals capitalized on their chances, while Millikin managed just eight points off 12 Cardinal giveaways.
• MIL: 4-21 3PT (19.0%). The Big Blue have been struggling to shoot the ball of late; they've been below 36 percent shooting on the whole from the field each of the past three games (Saturday included), but it was the three point shooting that really killed them. For the season, Millikin is at 29 percent from beyond the arc, and Saturday didn't help.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 47 (7-1), CAR 40 (0-6)
• @ ELM 78 (2-5), CRL 51 (4-2)
• AUG (3-1) @ IWU (3-1)- PPD
• BYE: NPU (3-3)
• MBK: @ MIL 59 (1-6), NCC 45 (4-3)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Steve Woltmann

The Cardinals have been in every game thus far this season, with the exception of the Illinois Wesleyan game the week before, and should have more wins than just the one they have now. But they finally put together a full, complete game, and it was great to see them pull out a win, especially against a Millikin team that was ranked 13th in the country. That it happened on a Senior Day with some of the parents in attendance was even better.

The Cardinals have five games left this season, including a makeup date with Illinois Wesleyan down in Bloomington to be played in about a week. That is sandwiched between home-and-homes with Carthage (this week) and Wheaton (next week). The Carthage matchup is against a team that is the only winless one in the conference, but they're also better than what their record says they are, especially with as well as they played Wheaton on Saturday. Speaking of the Thunder, NCC gets another crack at ending the long drought against them to close out the year.

Game Notes (MBK): Millikin University @ North Central College (2/11/21)

Final Score
NCC 62, Millikin 58

Game Summary
The Big Blue (0-6) got off to a pretty good start in this one, scoring the game's first five points, before the Cardinals (4-2) woke up with a 10-0 run to take the lead. Millikin managed to keep it close for much of the half, and even took a three point lead with about eight and a half to play, but after a North Central timeout to stop the bleeding, the Cardinals scored 13 unanswered to take command, and a late three gave the Cardinals a nine point halftime advantage. The Cardinals took a game-high 11 point lead less than a minute into the second half, but again the Big Blue fought back with a 7-0 run to keep it close, pulling within three once before another Cardinal surge got the lead back to double digits with seven and a half to play. Still Millikin refused to give in, as they fought back to keep it close, but would get no closer than three with just four seconds remaining, and a split of a pair of free throws in the final seconds sealed the deal for the Cardinals.

Key Players

• Blaise Meredith (NCC): 7-14 FG (2-8 3PT), 2-3 FT; 18 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast. Blaise has bounced back nicely from his second half sitdown a couple weeks ago, and while his night from deep wasn't great, he hit a couple big threes in the first half, and did make the most of his drives to the hoop, with the Big Blue having a tough time defending him. He could have easily had more had he not settled for some stepback threes early in the shot clock. Alas.
• Will Clausel (NCC): 4-7 FG (2-4 3PT); 10 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. Will got his first start of the season in this one after missing the first couple of games. He did his usual good defense against some pretty talented interior guys for Millikin, but he saved his scoring chops for the end of the game. All ten of his points came after halftime, and he more or less capped the night off with back to back drives for layups that each time pushed the Cardinal lead back to seven points and all but sealed the deal.
• Andy McLaughlin (NCC): 2-5 FG, 3-4 FT; 7 pts, 4 reb. There were a couple Millikin guys who scored in double figures, but I wanted to touch on NCC's newest toy. After spending basically the past season and a half more or less playing small ball (and being able to get away with it because Connor Raridon is his own type of once-in-a-generation player) the Cardinals finally trotted out some size in the form of the 6'7" transfer from Augustana. McLaughlin made his Cardinal debut in this one, and played pretty well in 15 minutes of action to the delight of the entire Cardinal bench. He used his size well down low, hit a couple layups, played some solid defense, and ultimately gave the Cardinals a dimension that will help them going forward.

Key Stats

• NCC: Outscored MIL 10-7 in second chance points. I could have gone a number of different ways here. The Cardinals won the battle in the paint 26-20, 9-7 off turnovers, and 16-13 off the bench. But I highlight second chance points because the Cardinals made the most of their chances. They had five offensive rebounds leading to ten points. The Big Blue had ten offensive rebounds, and had fewer points off those rebounds. In a tight game like these, these types of points matter, and the Cardinals won every category.
• MIL: 7-25 3PT (28.0%). Millikin didn't shoot great as a whole (36.2% from the field), and free throws were about even (low 60's for both teams), but this to me seems like the major difference. Calvin Fisher went 2-9 from deep for the Big Blue, and he's probably their best guy, and while he still led the way with 16 points, an off night from deep meant his team couldn't get over the hump.

CCIW Scoreboard/The Belt^TM Watch

• CRL 72 (2-2), @ ELM 70 (0-1)
• Carroll takes possession of The Belt^TM
• @ WHE 69 (6-0), NPU 59 (1-6)
• IWU (2-0) @ AUG (3-2)- PPD
• BYE: CAR (3-2)
• WBK: @ MIL 74 (5-2), NCC 62 (0-6)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Mark Black

First of all, it's great to have The Belt^TM back in action, even though it was in another game being played a few miles away. For the first time in 349 days, It^TM changes hands, too. Carroll gains possession for the first time in the Modern Era. For full history of The Belt^TM, you'll have to check out D3Boards (or something of a Cliffnotes version I wrote a year ago).

As for this game, I'm a little torn. The Cardinals had control for most of it, but didn't really dominate in the sense that you'd think of, especially against a team they've now beaten 11 times in a row. But the Cardinals made enough plays down the stretch, including a decent performance at the line, to hang on and stay unbeaten at home.

Credit this Big Blue team, though: they're way better than their 0-6 record indicates, and I think they'll be up for the rematch on Saturday down in Decatur. And when fans are allowed again, I need to make a road trip to the Griswold Center; their new floor is awesome.

Game Notes (WBK): Illinois Wesleyan University @ North Central College (2/6/21)

Final Score

IWU 77, NCC 52

Game Summary

Catching up from this past weekend, the Cardinals (0-5) started this one out pretty well all things considered. While they struggled offensively, they did a good job keeping the Titans (1-1) under wraps despite giving up a layup right off the opening tip. The Titans did get out to a 7-0 lead early, but the Cardinals fought back to within 11-6, the Titans started to get cold from the floor... and then the bottom fell out. A careless outlet pass was easily picked off, turned into an Illinois Wesleyan three, and a couple more gave the Titans a 20-6 edge after ten minutes. The Titans led by as many as 19 early in the second, but the Cardinals tried to fight back, cutting the deficit to ten with under a minute to go in the half. A fast break Titan layup made it 12, the Cardinals couldn't cash in on their last try, then compounded matters with a dumb foul on a halfcourt heave, with all three free throws falling to make it 38-23 at the break. After again surrendering an immediate layup to open the third, the Titans unleashed their press, and despite the Cardinals pushing to stay within 15, a late Titan surge opened the floodgates for a 25 point lead after three. Mia Smith called off the dogs early in the fourth, the Cardinals responded, and the Cardinal end of bench played well enough to not let the lead get higher than 31 briefly.

Key Players

• Kendall Sosa (IWU): 6-13 FG (0-2 3PT), 4-5 FT; 16 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl. Sosa is IWU's best player, and in her other games has lit opposing defenses up. So to hold her to just 16... is something of a victory, especially since it was on a reasonable field goal percentage. I'm probably reaching a bit for moral victories in a game we lost by 25, but I think this was a good sign.
• Samantha Munroe (IWU): 4-8 FG (4-6 3PT); 12 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast. I could have gone with Brooke Lansford here (also 12 points), but Lansford turned it over seven times, while Munroe did only once, and Munroe hit some big threes to put the Titans in command of this game.
• IxChel Leeuwenburgh (NCC): 1-4 FG (0-1 3PT), 3-6 FT; 5 pts, 16 reb (6 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. On a day where no Cardinals hit double figures, you have to go with the game high rebounding total. Leeuwenburgh dominated the glass in this one, and while it doesn't crack the top five of rebounding performances in program history, it's the most in a game since Jamie Cuny matched that mark back in 2015-16.

Key Stats

• IWU: Outscored NCC in the paint 38-20. There was some good post play, but the slashing game worked pretty well for the Titans as well in this one. Illinois Wesleyan opened three of the four quarters with possession, and got a quick layup on all three (plus one on their first possession of the second quarter, which they did not start the ball with). It was a good way to get the Cardinals on their heels early.
• NCC: Outrebounded IWU 50-42. On a day where the team shot poorly throughout (25.2% from the floor, and just 4-24 from deep), the one bright spot was a good performance on the glass. The Cardinals actually doubled up the Titans on second chance points too (10-5). Ultimately the Titans proved to be too much, but this was a positive to take away.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• MIL 73 (4-1), @ CAR 51 (0-4)
• @ WHE 69 (4-1), ELM 54 (1-4)
• @ CRL 57 (3-1), NPU 49 (3-1)
• BYE: AUG (3-1)
• MBK: @ IWU 91 (2-0), NCC 77 (3-2)

Final Thoughts

Watching your team get blown out is never fun, but honestly, I thought the Cardinals played pretty well, all things considered. The Titans were clearly the better team on Saturday, it showed in the final score and through a lot of the statistics, but the Cardinals didn't just go quietly into the night. They played fairly well defensively, occasional breakdown to allow a layup and some careless turnovers aside. They kept the turnover battle fairly close, won on the glass, which to me seems like a rarity, and didn't just roll over from the third quarter full court press. It's been frustrating for a team that I figured could win five or six games to have none to this point, but they've been in almost every game except this one, and even early in this one it took a bit before the Titans pulled away.

North Central doesn't get to let up though, as next up comes a double header against a feisty Millikin squad that's had their number the past couple years, and even split with Illinois Wesleyan already this season. The Cardinals did play them tough at home last year, though Thursday's date is in Decatur before they come back and play at Merner on Saturday.