Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/8/25)

Final Score
NCC 86, NPU 81

Game Summary
Taking on its second top-three conference opponent in as many games, the Cardinals (13-9, 6-7) traded baskets early with the Vikings (14-8, 9-4), who led 25-23 with just under eight minutes to play in the first half. The Cardinals finally took control with an 11-0 run, and closed the half on an 8-0 run, those as part of a larger 27-6 Cardinal run that led to a 48-31 NCC lead going into the locker room. After allowing the first two points of the second half to go down 19, the Vikings began to claw their way back in, cutting the deficit down to single digits about six minutes into the frame. The Cardinals did just enough to stay in front until the Vikings were finally able to draw back even at 77 with under four minutes to play. The Cardinals responded with a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession, and did just enough the rest of the way to hang on for their second consecutive huge home win.

Key Players

• Drew Gaston (NCC): 9-13 FG (3-4 3PT), 4-4 FT; 25 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 1 ast. As seems to always happen, on Senior Night, the seniors find a way to step up and save the day. Just a few days after Gaston hit a couple huge fallaways he was back at it again. In a season where he's struggled from beyond the arc, he had an excellent night from deep, and continued to shine on his baseline fadeaways. But no moment was bigger than out of a Cardinal timeout with 32.3 seconds left and 11 seconds on the shot clock. Gaston took a pass from Terrance Moncrief on the wing, dribbled right, stepped back, and launched a three with the shot clock winding down. Said shot hit the rim, ricocheted off the top of the backboard (somehow avoiding the shot clock, which would have been ruled out of bounds), front rim again, then bounced home off the back iron to serve as the final basket of the game and the eventual dagger. Gaston likely won't win Player of the Week honors given that Wheaton's Soren Richardson dropped 53 on this Viking team on Wednesday and followed that up with 29 more against Carroll Saturday night, but I dare you to find two more cold-blooded daggers than what Gaston came up with this week.
• Justin Sveiteris (NCC): 5-9 FG, 1-2 FT; 11 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 1 blk, 1 stl. Sveiteris has really started to come into his own as the season has progressed. He was needed more so in this game with James Bullock, Jr. out, and once again he shone. His 11 points was tied for second-most on the team with Ethan Helwig, his six rebounds tied the team high, and he played good interior defense, especially given his late foul trouble (he finished the game with four). He may not necessarily win any awards this year, but he has become a solid rotation piece for a CCIW team, and you need those.
• TJ Gardner (NPU): 7-11 FG (0-1 3PT), 5-8 FT; 19 pts, 2 stl. To a degree, I think Gardner's game was a microcosm of North Park's game as a whole. Gardner spend a good chunk of the second half attacking the basket and getting to the line. He had one of five North Park and-ones in the second half, and was able to get to the line several other times. But his performance at the line also served as a microcosm for the game for North Park.

Key Stats

• NCC: 8-17 3PT (47.1%). The Cardinals did a ton of damage on the inside as well, but it was complemented by their outside shooting, especially in the first half when they went a scorching 6-9. That cooled off a ton in the second half, but they didn't rely on it, and when they needed a big three... Drew Gaston gave them the aforementioned one.
• NPU: 15-22 FT (68.2%). In the first half, the Vikings seemed to be settling for outside shots a lot more, and that was a big reason why the Cardinals ended up building that tremendous lead. North Park did a great job adjusting in the second half, when they went into full attack mode and the Cardinals had a tough time stopping them without fouling. As mentioned, the Vikings notched five separate and-ones in the second half alone. Problem was, they couldn't fully capitalize. North Park made 19 trips to the line in the second half alone, but only hit 13, and in a game they lost by five... you do the math.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG 74 (13-8, 6-6), @ MIL 52 (11-11, 5-8)
  
• With the MIL loss, NPU clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• @ CAR 85 (16-5, 10-2), IWU 74 (18-4, 10-3)
• CAR clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• @ WHE 91 (5-16, 2-10), CRL 81 (6-15, 2-10)
• BYE: ELM (10-11, 6-6)

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t be surprised if Soren Richardson wins @CCIW_Athletics Player of the Week for this week.

But I dare you to find a guy who had two more cold-blooded daggers than @DrewGaston5 this week. #WeAreNC #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/QOGsWJtBpD

— Lucas Mitzel🎙 (@northsider89) February 9, 2025

Amazing how quickly a week changes things. A week ago, the Cardinals were coming off their third overtime loss in conference at Augustana with an absolute gauntlet coming up and desperately needing some victories to keep themselves in the conference race. The only team who maybe had a better week than the Cardinals did is Carthage, who after the bye on Wednesday knocked off Wesleyan for the second time this year to put themselves in the driver's seat for the conference title. North Central, meanwhile, has a one game lead for the sixth and final tournament spot, but they're just a half game out of fourth place. The Cardinals cannot catch the top two teams anymore, but they can mathematically still earn a home conference tournament game. They just need to keep this momentum up and probably get some help.

I need to build the spreadsheets again to take a look at all the scenarios, and I'll probably tweet stuff out once I do that. But we're down to a pretty fun race in the CCIW with just two weeks to go. The Cardinals finish off their home gauntlet (and likely their home schedule) as they welcome Carthage to Merner on Wednesday. It's a game I won't attend, but hopefully with how they've played in the last week, they can prove that they have what it takes to stand on their own.

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/8/25)

Final Score
NCC 82, NPU 71

Game Summary
Senior Day got off to a great start for the Cardinals (9-13, 5-8) as they started all four of their seniors and took a 10-4 lead in the early going. The Vikings (3-19, 0-13) stayed with it though, tying the game twice at 10 and then again at 13. A good NCC response led to a 20-16 Cardinal lead after one. The Cardinals briefly pushed the lead to double digits midway through the second quarter, but the Vikings fought back to within three late, though a late layup helped push the Cardinal halftime lead to 40-34. The third quarter was where the game was effectively decided though, as Cardinal pressure finally ramped up enough, as an extended 14-2 NCC run pushed the Cardinal lead up to 20 as the Vikings went over six minutes without a field goal. NCC led by as many as 22 early in the fourth, with some Viking garbage time scoring bringing the margin down to a more reasonable level.

Key Players

• Biz Daly (NCC): 8-13 FG, 2-2 FT; 18 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. Coming off the bench for senior Ceyda Yucel on Senior Day, Daly looked back to her form from early in the season. She had a very efficient day and led the team in scoring. While I'd like to have seen more rebounds, her paint presence and scoring touch has improved from her rough stretch recently.
• Jocelyn Trotter (NCC): 4-6 FG, 5-5 FT; 13 pts, 7 reb (4 off), 3 ast, 5 stl. I feel like Trotter is very much a pass-first player, despite multiple calls from Coach McCloskey-Bax to take advantage of open looks. In this one, Trotter was a big key in the Cardinals taking early control as most of her makes came off putbacks, and she took advantage at the free throw line as well. Her five steals in this game give her 47 for the year, which is pretty good given the months she missed due to injury, but she will need to match this game's pace over the final three (a little less if the Cardinals can sneak into the conference tournament) if she wants to join the top ten mark for a single season in program history.
• Caroline Long (NPU): 11-17 FG, 1-3 FT; 23 pts, 3 reb (1 off). Long had the best game out of any of the Vikings. She had a personal 6-0 run once the margin hit 20 in the fourth, and she added another bucket at the end for the last score of the game to give herself high scorer honors for the contest. Unfortunately for her and her team, it wasn't enough to get them over the top.

Key Stats

• NCC: 31 points off 22 NPU turnovers. This is the recipe for NCC's success: get into your full court defense, force turnovers, and cash in. 13 of the giveaways came off Cardinal steals, paced by the aforementioned five from Trotter, with Grace Keiffer notching four more. By comparison, the Cardinals coughed the ball up 16 times, which the Vikings turned into 20 points.
• NPU: 6-12 3PT (50.0%). This was largely buoyed by a 3-5 fourth quarter, but that was part of why this margin was as tight as it was in a game that the Cardinals largely seemed to control. The Vikings' free throw shooting did them no favors (11-19).

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ MIL 59 (8-13, 7-5), AUG 51 (9-13, 5-8)
• @ CAR 87 (16-6, 8-5), IWU 81 (20-1, 11-1)
• CRL 71 (15-6, 10-2), @ WHE 63 (11-10, 6-6)
• CRL clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• BYE: ELM (12-8, 4-8)

Final Thoughts
This caps a solid week for the Cardinals, who after losing a couple rough games last week, had a good bounce back including a huge win in Kenosha this past Wednesday. The twin victories keep North Central's season alive and will hopefully provide a confidence boost. They will need all the help they can get, with a trip to Carroll coming this Wednesday.

Game Notes (WBK): North Park University @ North Central College (1/25/21)

Final Score

NPU 55, NCC 53 (OT)

Game Summary

It sure seemed like we were in for a very long night as the Vikings (2-0) opened the game on a 14-0 run as the Cardinals (0-2) missed a bunch of early looks and had trouble taking care of the ball. But the Vikings eventually went cold, managing just three free throws the rest of the opening quarter and leading 17-6 after the first ten minutes. Then the wheels fell off, the Cardinals started to hit shots, and we seemed poised to go into the break tied at 24, but an off balance Haydn Braun layup gave the Cardinals a two point edge at the buzzer. The Cardinals kept that momentum up into the third quarter, building a nine point lead and holding off Viking rallies to going into the final ten minutes of regulation up 42-37. The Cardinals scored the first four of the quarter to push their lead back to nine, but were held off the board for eight minutes as the Vikings slowly fought back, taking a one point lead with a minute and a half to go. The Cardinals tied it on a free throw with under a minute to play. North Park came up empty on two chances, but Page Desenberg's three to win was blocked, forcing overtime. The Cardinals took a pair of two point leads in the extra session, but North Park was able to answer both, then take their own lead with under a minute to play. The Cardinals answered on a nice play, but left 28 seconds on the clock for the Vikings. After getting across the time line and calling timeout, they drew up a play for Jayla Johnson, who drove left, and hit a fallaway jumper from about ten feet with 2.8 seconds left to give the Vikings their final lead. The Cardinals tried to find Megan McClure for a game-tying layup, but it fell short, and the Vikings stormed the court, completing the sweep and avenging the end to their season a year ago.

Key Players

• Jayla Johnson (NPU): 10-18 FG (1-2 3PT), 0-2 FT; 21 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 1 ast, 5 stl. North Park's best player played the role last night. She was pretty dominant in the first half, notching 11 points and seven rebounds, despite coughing the ball up four times. She cleaned the turnover game up a bit after halftime, but was held to 4-9 shooting there, and didn't get a look until her game winner with 2.8 ticks left. A comment made by North Park play by play man Greg Sager is that the Vikings are going to need someone else to step up and be a second scorer, but for now having Johnson as your best player is pretty good.
• Esther Miller (NPU): 1-5 FG (0-2 3PT), 7-9 FT; 9 pts, 12 reb (5 off), 1 ast, 4 stl. There were a few directions I could have gone for North Park's second person, and to me it was the 5'9" Miller leading all rebounders (and offensive rebounders). While those five offensive boards only resulted in four points (all Miller free throws), she was a big reason why the Vikings were able to survive their second quarter rough patch.
• Bekah Foley (NCC): 0-6 FG (0-2 3PT); 0 pts, 6 reb (4 off), 2 stl, 4 blk. So why am I going with a player who didn't score last night as opposed to a Haydn Braun, who led the team with 12 points, or a Page Desenberg/Allison Pearson who scored in double figures as well? Foley was a key piece in helping the Cardinals try to hold onto their lead late in regulation. Her four blocks were a career high, and she did a great job containing Jayla Johnson, denying multiple entry passes to her, and despite Foley only recording two steals, she probably forced a handful more with those denials. You need those nitty gritty plays that don't show up in the box score, and Bekah provided those last night.

Key Stats

• NCC: 22 points off 26 NPU turnovers. In a game that seemed like it was over only six minutes in, it was the Cardinal defense that rose to the occasion to help make this an overtime game. Of these 26 turnovers, 14 came off Cardinal steals, and North Central probably drew half a dozen offensive fouls over the course of the game. I lost count of the exact number, but it was a lot. North Park, for their part, had 15 points off turnovers.
• NPU: 15 second chance points. North Park for the game outrebounded the Cardinals, but not by a lot (48-44). However, their edge came on the offensive glass with 17 offensive rebounds (though the Cardinals logged 16 as a team). All of those points, however, came in the first three quarters.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• AUG (0-1) @ ELM (1-0)- PPD
• MIL (1-0) @ CAR (0-1)- PPD
• IWU (0-0) @ CRL (0-0)- PPD
• BYE: ELM (0-0)
• MBK: NCC 83 (2-0), @ NPU 60 (0-2)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Mark Black

This was a tough one. I was convinced we were in for a long night in the first few minutes as North Park built that commanding two touchdown lead. But the Cardinals did a great job refusing to give up, starting hounding the Vikings on the defensive end, took advantage of the numerous offensive fouls, and really turned this into a game. It goes down as another classic in a pretty good recent history of games between these two teams at Merner. It's just unfortunate that North Park had the look for the last shot and made it, but it was a great play by Jayla Johnson.

It's an 0-2 start, but an improvement over the opener when the Vikings won by 12 in Chicago. The Cardinals will go right back to on Thursday night, when they travel to Rock Island to take on Augustana.

Game Notes (MBK): North Park University @ North Central College (1/23/21)

Final Score

NCC 69, NPU 49

Game Summary

Playing for the first time in almost a full calendar year, the Cardinals (1-0) got off to a slow start, falling behind 7-2 early as they struggled to shoot. But then the Vikings (0-1) went cold as well, going nearly eight minutes without a basket as the Cardinals used a 10-0 run to take the lead. North Park hung around though as the Cardinals got a little sloppy with the ball and the game turned into a back and forth affair. The Vikings hit a shot on the last possession of the half, tying the game at 27 going into the locker room. But the master of halftime, Todd Raridon, worked his magic again, as the Cardinals opened the second half on a 17-3 run to take dominant control of the game, and the Vikings would not threaten the rest of the way.

Key Players

• Blaise Meredith (NCC): 9-17 FG (6-12 3PT), 1-3 FT; 25 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. With the departure of Connor Raridon and Matt Cappelletti this offseason, this has become Blaise Meredith's team, and he put the team on his back today. Most of his damage came from behind the arc, an area of his game he's really improved on over the last couple of years, and he remained a force on the defensive end as well as on the glass. He fought through some physical defense today and wanted more calls than he got, and that's really my only gripe is making sure his head stays in the game, but for the most part he was, and it showed today.
• Brian Johnson (NCC): 5-10 FG (1-3 3PT), 0-2 FT; 11 pts, 9 reb (5 off), 3 ast, 1 stl. The aforementioned departures also leave a gap in the forward position that needed to be filled today, especially with Will Clausel out due to injury, and the sophomore stepped up big time in this one. He opened the season's scoring for the Cardinals with a putback layup early, showed some range from deep, but also did a great job moving without the ball for some layups while also playing strong on the boards. If he can continue to put these numbers up as the season goes on, look out.
• Adam Sundh (NPU): 6-8 FG (0-2 3PT); 12 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 1 ast, 3 stl. In my prep for this game, I reached out to the play by play guy for North Park athletics, Greg Sager. In addition to coaching me on the nuance of Swedish surname pronunciation, he mentioned that he figured Sundh would get some run in this game, and not only did he, but he was probably the Vikings' best guy on the floor. He scored eight straight North Park points in the first half to keep the game competitive, and did it largely by wreaking havoc on the defensive end and cashing those points in on the other end. Tom Slyder has a good one here.

Key Stats

• NCC: 17 second chance points. There are some aspects of this game, looking at the box score, where things were even or even favoring the Vikings, but this number jumped out at me. The Cardinals had 14 offensive rebounds in this game to lead to those 17 points, while the Vikings managed just eight on second opportunities. On a night where both teams had a little rust, taking advantage of these chances was key, and the Cardinals capitalized.
• NPU: 3-19 3PT (15.8%). On the whole this number looks bad, but let's break it down by halves. The Vikings hit their first three attempt of the game to open the scoring, then went cold, but hit a couple threes later in the half, finishing 3-9 in the first 20 minutes. That of course means an 0-10 stretch in the second half. As a point of reference, the Vikings shot about 33 percent from deep last season, and much of last year's roster is back, so between first game jitters and regression to the mean, I don't think we can read too much into this, especially since North Central is a good defensive team.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• IWU 74 (1-0), @ CRL 59 (0-1)
• @ WHE 88 (1-0), AUG 67 (0-1)
• @ CAR 83 (1-0), MIL 57 (0-1)
• BYE: ELM (0-0)
• WBK: @ NPU 59 (1-0), NCC 47 (0-1)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Mark Black

Today was a long time coming. It was the first contest for the Cardinals since the legendary Oshkosh game, and a contest that I think a lot of us weren't sure was going to happen. I'm grateful to the NCAA, the CCIW, and North Central for taking steps to make sure that this contest could be put on safely. And on top of that, I'm glad that the North Central athletic department, even with no fans, still wanted the gameday atmosphere to be as close to normal as possible, and thus invited me back for my tenth year behind the microphone, even though this season is nowhere near what I pictured it looking like.

As for this game, it wasn't pretty at times. There was a lot of rust, which was something to be expected. Fortunately that rust extended both ways, and while the Vikings made a game of it in the first half, good job by the Cardinals to take care of business in the second half and come away with the victory.

With the shortened schedule this season, the Cardinals will go forward by finishing the home and home with North Park by paying a visit to the north side of Chicago on Monday night, while the women's team, who played in the crackerbox this afternoon, will host North Park Monday night, and I'll be back at it for them as well. For the men, it's a good start and a good sign that this team is still pretty good. Hopefully they'll take care of business on the road, but the rest of the schedule is no cakewalk. With luck, today was a good building block for the rest of the campaign.

2020 CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament Preview

I'm trying to get these out a little earlier this year. For one thing, North Central is playing Tuesday, so I need to preview that. For another... the fact that this is now a six team tournament means I want to get with the program a little quicker.

This is actually the second year that the CCIW has used the expanded tournament; in prior years this was a four-team affair, but the six team group gives more teams a chance not only for an automatic bid, but also to bolster their resumes for at large selection into the NCAA Tournament.

So below I'm going to preview the entire CCIW Tournament field. I'm only putting the weekend site on here; the weekend part of the tournament hasn't changed in that the conference champion hosts the semifinals and finals, but the past couple years the Tuesday play-in games have had higher seeds host.

One More to Go: A CCIW Update

The regular season concludes tomorrow for the CCIW... which means we have to look at how the CCIW Tournament races are shaping up.

This is an annual feature for me where I look at all the different clinching scenarios. Earlier this week I had thought about trying to crunch numbers with two games to go for odds of each team getting certain tournament seeds. The math proved to be a little too much for me, but I will include the numbers here now that there's just one game to go and the math becomes much more simple.

As usual, a lot of the tournament spots have been claimed already, but seeding is all still well up for grabs. I consider it the advantage in Year Two of having a six team tournament instead of only four. Let's have a look.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/1/20)

Final Score
NCC 90, NPU 66

Game Summary
After losing The Belt^TM on Wednesday night, the Cardinals (16--4, 9-2) opened with a dunk on a wide open drive to the hoop, sparking a 9-0 run to open the game. The Vikings (4-16, 2-9) finally got on the board just over three minutes into the contest, but it was pretty much over shortly after that as the Cardinals got out to a 20-4 lead not even six minutes in. North Park tried to make it interesting, pulling back within single digits about halfway through the first half, but the Cardinals pushed the lead back out, never leading by less than 11, and hit a three at the buzzer to take a 51-30 lead into the locker room. In the second half, the Vikings never managed to get closer than within 16, while the Cardinals pushed the lead past 30 with about ten and a half minutes to play, and for the second straight home game, Todd Raridon was able to call off the dogs in the final few minutes. With the win, the Cardinals clinch a berth in the CCIW Tournament.

Key Players

• Matt Cappelletti (NCC): 10-14 FG (1-3 3PT); 21 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. This was Cap's second-best scoring output of the season (the Greenville game was his top outing), and the first play was a microcosm of the game. Cap went to the point to catch a pass and managed to avoid North Park's Matt Szuba, who gambled for a steal and overpursued. That left the lane completely wide open, as all of Szuba's teammates were paying attention to their assignments, leaving Cap no opposition for that dunk to open the festivities. He got a ton of layups in this one, and while he's struggled from three this season (only 27.5%), he's still averaging double figures as a key piece for this team.
• Connor Raridon (NCC): 6-8 FG (0-1 3PT), 2-2 FT; 16 pts, 10 reb (4 off), 7 ast, 1 stl. Another day at the office, but with a double-double. Amazingly, this is only Connor's second of the season, but it's the 24th of his career. He's been scoring when he's needed to, but for the most part has been the facilitator. For the season, he's put up a 15.3/7.4/5.6 line on 53/36/84 splits, which are really good (6th in scoring, 5th in rebounding, tops in assists, tops in field goal percentage, would be in the top 20 in three point percentage if he qualified, and fourth in free throw percentage in the CCIW). It's a two-man race for the Fred Young Most Outstanding Player award in the CCIW: Raridon, and Elmhurst's Jake Rhode.
• Izaiah Sanders (NPU): 5-10 FG (2-2 3PT), 3-3 FT; 15 pts, 6 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 2 stl. The Vikings have been pretty bad the past couple years, but they have some intriguing pieces going forward, and the junior guard is one of them. This is a pretty good line, and appears to be Sanders' best game of this campaign so far. If the Vikings can get some good complementary pieces this offseason, they can get out of the CCIW basement.

Key Stats

• NCC: 21-30 FG in 1st half (70.0%). I don't think I've ever seen a more efficient half of basketball than the first half of this one against an overmatched Vikings squad. This included a 6-10 clip from beyond the arc (60%). Breaking down some of these 51 points, 24 came in the paint, 14 came off ten Viking turnovers, seven came off second chances, and five came on the fast break. That's a good half. They came back down to earth in the second (13-27 for a 48.2% clip), but that's to be expected, and is still a great shooting day.
• NPU: 16 turnovers. It was kind of hard to pinpoint one thing. The Vikings shot pretty well (50% from the field, 33% from deep, but only 59% from the line), but they pretty much shot themselves in the foot early on. As mentioned above, ten of those 16 turnovers came in that decisive first half, and the Cardinals scored 21 points off those opportunities. North Park, for its part, did force 11 turnovers, including seven steals, to help mitigate this, but surrendering a shooting day like they did while not taking care of the ball doesn't help.

CCIW Scoreboard/The Belt^TM Watch
With Illinois Wesleyan taking possession of The Belt^TM on Wednesday down in Bloomington, this added feature returns to this section until we have another game at Merner for It^TM.

• @ ELM 80 (18-2, 9-2), WHE 69 (12-7, 6-4)
• Elmhurst clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• @ IWU 88 (13-6, 7-3), CRL 44 (9-11, 2-9)
• Illinois Wesleyan retains possession of The Belt^TM
• @ AUG 76 (14-6, 8-3), MIL 55 (4-16, 1-10)
• Augustana clinches a CCIW Tournament berth
• Bye- CAR (12-7, 4-6)
• WBK: @ NCC 63 (9-10, 5-5), NPU 59 (16-4, 9-2)
• WBK: @ IWU 73 (13-6, 7-3), CRL 57 (7-12, 3-8)
• WBK: WHE 63 (15-5, 8-3), @ ELM 60 (7-13, 2-9)
• WBK: MIL 66 (13-7, 6-5), @ AUG 60 (10-10, 5-6) (OT)
• WBK: Bye- CAR (8-11, 3-7)

Final Thoughts

I think pretty much everyone had the expectation that this was going to be an easy win for the Cardinals... but not even I expected it would have started like this. Cap's game-opening dunk really set the tone, and with the Cardinals jumping out to an 18-2 lead, there was little drama on Saturday. It was nice once again to see the end of bench guys get in, and part of me now wants Barak Diehl to get a little more regular playing time, because dude can shoot. I know it won't happen, but it's fun.

With Elmhurst winning to keep pace, we continue with that two-way tie atop the CCIW. It will be broken one way or another this week, as the Cardinals have their second bye on Wednesday (Elmhurst hosts Carthage), and then this coming Saturday we have arguably the biggest game of the season as the Blue Jays come to Gregory Arena. This game won't decide the fate of the conference, but I think whoever wins will likely get one of the two byes. And for the Cardinals, if they win that game against Elmhurst, it will guarantee North Central the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head sweep thanks to their come-from-behind victory at Faganel Hall way back in December, which will probably put the Cardinals in the driver's seat for the conference title.

Saturday we also celebrate Senior Night, as we send off one of the most successful senior classes in program history. Four straight NCAA Tournament appearances (at least for two of the seniors involved as they're fifth-year seniors), two CCIW Tournament championships, and a ton of fun memories highlight their careers, and it'll be a bittersweet celebration of the four guys we'll honor.

Attacking the Gauntlet Once More

Somehow, someway, I keep coming up with new titles for this annual post.

Like many of the conferences in Division III, the CCIW plays a double round robin in men's and women's basketball. Everyone has played eight games to date: one against every other opponent. So as we make the turn into the second half, this is where I start to write a little bit more on a weekly basis, beginning with this one. The regional rankings don't start coming out for another couple weeks yet, so we still have to wait for that, but this is where we start to look at postseason prospects for everyone, North Central in particular.

One More to Go: A CCIW Update

Part of my annual series on North Central basketball includes a final look at the conference tournament picture. So with one more day of games on the docket, let's get to work on this.

I need to give a ton of thanks and credit to Greg Sager, play by play guy for North Park athletics and frequent contributor to D3Boards, who did pretty much all of the legwork on the various scenarios.

We've had years on opposite ends of the spectrum in the past when I've run this feature. Some years it's a simple "Win and you're in" prospect. Other years, you have teams with absolutely zero control over their own postseason fate because of the weirdness of tiebreakers. This year, with the expansion of the conference tournament from four to six, it made more games meaningful but also opened up a whole new world of clinching scenario possibilities.

Details come after the jump, but suffice it to say that the men's clinching scenarios are a lot simpler than the women's. If you're curious, you can view the CCIW tiebreakers here.

Once More Unto the Gauntlet

I'm running out of titles. I was going to go with "Once More Unto the Breach," but I used that in 2015.

One of my many annual features as a part of NCAA Division III basketball season is a checkin on the rest of the conference at the halfway point. This will be followed up in the next couple weeks when the NCAA regional rankings drop, where I'll look at how North Central fares in that arena as well.

But for now, with a single round robin complete, let's look at how North Central is doing.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (12/8/18)

Final Score
NPU 95, NCC 88

Game Summary
The Cardinals (6-1, 2-1) got off to their usual immediate good start, winning the tip and scoring on the opening possession. But the Vikings (3-7, 2-1) recovered, hitting a three in response and thus setting off a half full of lead changes. Each team led by as many as five at one point early on before settling into a heavyweight bout of trading blows, with North Park getting a 33-32 halftime lead on a buzzer beater. The close game continued in the second half, with North Park in control early but fending off a Cardinal group right on their heels. The Cardinals actually did take a 57-54 lead with about ten and a half to go, but that was the high water mark for the half, as North Park slowly started to regain control and pull away. The Cardinals did make it interesting in the final minute, pulling within four thanks to some threes, but North Park was phenomenal at the line to put it out of reach.

Key Players

• Toby Marek (NPU): 8-11 FG (1-1 3PT), 12-14 FT; 29 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk. Marek was just red hot in this one, but it was his ability to get to the line in the second half that really helped put the game out of reach. 22 of Marek's points came in the second stanza, including an 11-12 performance at the stripe.
• Kindrel Morris (NPU): 3-7 FG (0-2 3PT), 9-12 FT; 15 pts, 3 reb (1 off), 3 ast. Morris had a more understated impact, but was no less of a reason why the Vikings pulled the road upset. He scored all 15 of his points after halftime, going perfect from the floor and getting all his trips to the line in then. He did have four turnovers, but only one came after halftime.
• Blaise Meredith (NCC): 5-11 FG (0-2 3PT), 12-13 FT; 22 pts, 4 reb (1 off), 1 blk, 2 stl. Blaise had himself a pretty good night on the whole, especially offensively as he was able to get to the basket and thus the line almost at will. He did face some late foul trouble as his last two foul calls were questionable, and he could have gotten T'd up, but wasn't. Also not helping his cause was one of his misses, when he had a clear shot to the rack and went up for a dunk, but blew it.

Key Stats

• NCC: 7-23 3PT (30.4%). I think this number is a bit of an improvement, but on a night where your opponent just can't miss, you have to shoot a little better than this. Mike Pollack bumped this up some with a few late triples, so looking at a 2-11 first half really tells the tale to some degree. I've been saying for weeks that the shots will start to fall... but they need to start to fall soon. 
• NPU: 29-49 FG (59.2%), 8-14 3PT (57.1%), 29-34 FT (85.3%). I had to include their entire shooting line, because this is ridiculous. The Vikings just couldn't miss tonight. They did get quite a few easy layups as part of their 62 point second half, but they also got to the line and went 4-7 from deep in each half. You're going to be almost impossible to beat on a night like that. Tip the cap.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• MIL 77 (5-3, 1-2). @ CRL 75 (2-6, 0-3) 
• @ AUG 67 (7-1, 2-0), IWU 60 (7-2, 1-2)
• ELM 95 (4-3, 2-0), @ CAR 79 (4-5, 1-2)
• Bye: @ WHE 92 (7-2, 1-1), Olivet 81

Final Thoughts

Like the women's game, this one hurts. The Cardinals came into the night technically in first place by half a game by virtue of Augie having had the bye this past week and Elmhurst having had it a week ago. Instead, they couldn't take care of business at home against the team picked to finish last in the CCIW. To be fair, part of me looked at this game going in not knowing how it would go; this North Park team knocked off Wheaton at home last Saturday. But I didn't expect this.

A Cardinal defense that was allowing under 60 points a game for the year got lit up, especially in the second half. Some of this was North Park just hitting some ridiculous shots, and you have to tip your cap. But this is also an alarming first loss, especially with some tough games coming up. Hopefully this is just a hiccup, as the Cardinals welcome in non-conference rival Aurora on Wednesday night before wrapping up the December portion of CCIW play with a trip to Wheaton a week from tonight.

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (12/8/18)

Final Score
NPU 83, NCC 82 (OT)

Game Summary
This was a tough one as the Cardinals (2-5, 1-2) and Vikings (5-4, 2-1) traded leads in the early going, with North Park taking a 19-17 lead after one. North Central took a brief 20-19 lead early in the second quarter, but then it was all Vikings as they pushed their lead gradually up to eight, with a 39-31 advantage going into the locker room. The Cardinals fought back a couple times in the third quarter, drawing back within two three separate times in the period only to see the Vikings push the lead back, as they took a 65-56 lead into the final frame. But then the Cardinals made their push: a 10-0 run that spanned the first four minutes of the fourth, giving them the lead, and their defense held the Vikings without a basket until more than five minutes in. But still, the Vikings seemed poised to win in regulation, up six with 1:25 to play, but a three and layup sandwiching a defensive stop made it a one point game with just 23 seconds to go. The Vikings split a pair of free throws, and Lyndsay Brennan hit a layup to tie, and the Vikings missed a couple looks to avoid the extra session. North Central was in pretty good shape a couple minutes in despite trading leads, going up four with a minute and a half to play, but the Vikings closed it out with five straight free throws, the fifth coming after North Central missed a go-ahead three, and Tyonne Howard missed a desperation heave at the final buzzer.

Key Players

• Lauryn Alba Garner (NPU): 6-13 FG (2-3 3PT), 3-5 FT; 17 pts, 5 reb (2 off), 2 ast, 4 stl. I didn't realize Alba Garner had the impact she did on the defensive side until I looked at the final box score, but what really stood out was her offensive game. Her game-high 17 seemed like more given the end of the third quarter, when she scored North Park's final six points on an old fashioned three point play and a three pointer to push the Viking lead to nine. Her fourth quarter wasn't quite as good, as those two missed free throws were what allowed North Central to tie the game.
• Natali Dimitrova (NCC): 6-13 FG (0-2 3PT), 14-17 FT; 26 pts, 10 reb (6 off), 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl. While the result was disappointing, tonight was definitely a coming out party for Natali Dimitrova. She shattered her old career high of 17 points by dominating down low, especially in the second half when she scored 16 of her points, plus another five in overtime before controversially fouling out. I think the best sign is in her free throw numbers; a year after really struggling at the stripe, it's apparent she worked on that in the offseason, and it showed with a stellar performance.
• Tyonne Howard (NCC): 6-8 FG, 5-8 FT; 17 pts, 6 reb (3 off), 7 ast, 2 stl. I've touched on Tyonne Howard in every game so far, but I think deservedly so. She's been such a good distributor of the ball in each of the first three home games as well as on the road, and she did a good job with her shots tonight. I think more impressive was, at 5'4", she was going right into traffic and stealing offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive. The turnover numbers are still not great (6 tonight), but when she's notching more assists than turnovers and wreaking some havoc on defense, you'll take the hiccups.

Key Stats

• NCC: 5-20 3PT (25.0%). I had a hard time picking out a stat for North Central. The rebounding was about even (44-40 North Park), North Central turned it over a couple more times (15 to 13), and the Cardinals shot all right as a whole. The three point shooting wasn't great though. They were okay in the first half, then went away a bit as the game went on, but missed five of their six attempts after halftime. This number should be a little higher, and could have swung the game. Alas.
• NPU: 24-40 FT (60.0%). I already touched on Lauryn Alba Garner's two late misses, but this isn't just on her. 60 percent isn't good; that's as big a reason as any the Cardinals stayed in this game. Fortunately for the Vikings, they went 8-12 at the line in the extra session, which was just enough.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ CRL 70 (4-5, 1-1), MIL 67 (2-6, 1-2)
• IWU 83 (8-2, 3-0), @ AUG 76 (4-5, 1-2)
• @ CAR 92 (4-3, 1-2), ELM 62 (3-5, 0-2)
• Bye: UW-Oshkosh 57, @ WHE 48 (5-3, 2-0)

Final Thoughts

All told, this one hurts. The Cardinals didn't play great at times, but they stayed in this ballgame unlike the Millikin contest last week and thus didn't need as furious a comeback. But they did a great job to force the extra session. I do question the decision making on their second to last possession, having the ball with about ten seconds left, only to force a contested three rather than attack the basket. Of course, had Howard's heave fallen we may not be talking about this. But really, I have to give credit to the Vikings. They played well, and they earned the victory and the right to storm the court after the final buzzer.

This is a tough loss that drops the Cardinals into a lower pack in the conference. It's still early, but the schedule doesn't get any easier. They head north to take on Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Tuesday before heading to the dreaded King Arena for a date with Wheaton on Saturday.

One More to Go: A CCIW Update

It's an annual tradition, though maybe not unlike any other.

Tomorrow is the final day of the regular season in the CCIW, and actually the final time that we'll have regular season games on this day after just two years of the return to nine teams in the conference. Next season, the conference tournaments will expand from four teams to six in both men's and women's basketball. It's going to make more games matter at the end and possibly bolster resumes when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. But that's next year.

With the final day approaching, I always take the time leading up to it to look over the conference and see what the tournament scenarios are. This is where it's handy to have access to the list of CCIW tiebreakers, which was last updated in the fall of 2014 and may need to be updated slightly with Carroll's return. Fortunately, any updates that would need to be made won't impact either race. Also, compared to prior years, this year's post will be so much simpler than any other. As with last year, my thanks goes to the D3Boards community for helping sort through all of this.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/3/18)

Final Score
NCC 61, NPU 60

Game Summary
The Vikings (4-16, 1-11) crashed an emotional Senior Night party with an early barrage from beyond the arc, leading 9-2 less than five minutes in. Just two minutes later the deficit was double digits, and the Cardinals (16-5, 9-3) just couldn't get anything going offensively. North Park eventually opened up a 24-8 lead ten minutes in and had silenced Gregory Arena. Then the Cardinals woke up a bit, sandwiching a North Park layup with back to back threes to inject a little life in the building. The Vikings kept their advantage at a decent clip, still leading by double digits with 4:35 to go, but the Cardinals closed the half on a 9-0 run from that point, capped by a Blaise Meredith layup with four seconds to go. The Cardinals grabbed a 31-30 lead immediately to start the second half, but the Vikings answered immediately and regained control with a 5-0 mini run, though the Cardinals would not go away, eventually retying the game at 45. The teams traded some one possession leads from there before the Vikings made their run: a 9-0 stretch that spanned nearly five minutes had the Cardinals on the ropes, but North Central immediately answered with a Tommy Koth three. Alex Sorenson added a pair of free throws a minute later, and Connor Raridon tied the game again with a jumper with about a minute and a half left. The teams dug in for a close finish, with North Park's Colin Lake picking Sorenson's pocket with a minute left, then setting up Billy Kirby for the go-ahead layup with about 40 seconds left. On North Central's ensuing possession, they went to their two best guys, with the Vikings inexplicably leaving Alex Sorenson wide open from the top of the key, and he made them pay by burying a three with 27 seconds left. Out of timeouts and with the gym rocking so loud the officials didn't hear North Central's request for one, the Vikings went to Colin Lake on the final possession. He missed an eight foot teardrop, somehow got his own rebound, missed the putback, and saw a loose ball that was almost certainly out of bounds off North Park trickle out to Jack Gurvey who put up a prayer from 15 that hit off the back of the iron and triggered a roar as the Cardinals escaped with the win.

Key Stats

• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 6-13 FG (2-2 3PT), 7-12 FT; 21 pts, 7 reb (3 off), 4 ast, 1 stl. One of the seniors being honored last night, Alex struggled a little bit early in this one. The Cardinals had a hard time finding openings to get entry passes to him in the post. When he did get the ball down low, he got fouled multiple times and struggled at the line in the first half (just 2-6). He made up for it in the second half though by getting some open looks, settling in at the line, and even hitting a three to help keep the Cardinals in it. On his heroic three, Alex had received the ball in the high post, handed the ball to Connor Raridon, who tried to back into that same high post while Alex drifted out, and Connor dished it out to a wide open Sorenson who made the Vikings pay. After the final buzzer, he leapt close to the Cardinal bench in what looked like celebration but described as relief for escaping with a win.
• Tommy Koth (NCC): 4-7 FG (2-3 3PT), 1-2 FT; 11 pts, 2 reb (2 off). Earlier this week, Erwin Henry suffered a season-ending injury, a huge blow to this contending Cardinal team. It meant that roles were going to have to change and guys were going to have to step up. One of them is Koth, who pre-injury was North Central's ninth man and guy who would get a handful of minutes a night to spell the main rotation guys. He played 15 minutes last night and had arguably the best night of his career, hitting a couple huge threes, including one with the Cardinals down seven late. They don't need him to score 11 a night the rest of the way, but if he can chip in maybe six or seven while continuing to add excellent perimeter defense, they'll be in good shape.
• Colin Lake (NPU): 5-15 FG (2-6 3PT), 2-3 FT; 14 pts, 5 reb (1 off), 4 ast, 1 stl. With the graduation of Juwan Henry and sabbatical of All American Jordan Robinson, the 5'4" Lake is the best player on what has become a pretty dreadful North Park team. Lake has done basically all he can this year to keep the Vikings afloat, and did so last night, leading the team in scoring and coming up with that key steal from Sorenson in the final minute. I feel kind of bad for him after missing two fairly open looks on that fateful final possession, but he gave his all last night. I have to tip my cap.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ CRL 77 (8-12, 4-7), AUG 69 (16-5, 8-4)
• @ WHE 82 (14-6, 7-4), ELM 70 (11-10, 4-8)
• @ CAR 85 (12-8, 7-4), MIL 70 (10-11, 3-9)
• Bye: IWU (16-4, 9-2)

Final Thoughts
I was a little worried after the fact that I almost jinxed the Cardinals last night. Augie's road loss up in Waukesha was kind of shocking, and I'd made the comment that we'd be in second place by the end of the night. Early on in the game though it looked like we'd stay tied with Augie. So to say that the ending last night was a relief would be an understatement. Both Alex Sorenson and Todd Raridon expressed sentiments as such after the game.

Big picture wise, a Cardinal team that I'd written off for the top of the conference two weeks ago is now just half a game back of Illinois Wesleyan for first place. Augie is still clearly in the mix, but it's down to a two-team race for fourth between Carthage and Wheaton. It's going to make Wednesday's first set of regional rankings that much more interesting, and I'll have a writeup about it before Wednesday's big showdown.

Speaking of which, that showdown is against Augustana at home. Place your bets on Twitter at @northsider89 for the Grey Giovanine Jacket Watch, which I'll tweet out later. The Cardinals follow that with a bye on Saturday, one last home date with Carroll a week from Wednesday, then two tough road dates with Wheaton and Illinois Wesleyan. The latter may end up being the game that decides the site of the conference tournament. However, the focus for now is on Wednesday.

Game Notes: (WBK) North Park University @ North Central College (2/3/18)

Final Score
NCC 71, NPU 61

Game Summary
The Cardinals (5-16, 3-9) jumped out to the immediate lead, but it was the Vikings (8-12, 3-8) who took over from there on out and held narrow leads before the Cardinals tied it, but the Vikings did take a 16-14 lead after one quarter. They started to pull away in the second, taking a 32-24 advantage with 4:16 to play. Then the Cardinals warmed up, closing the half on an 11-1 run to go up 35-33 at the break. They kept that momentum after intermission with a strong offensive showing, answering every North Park basket, though the Vikings would keep it close, trimming North Central's lead to one with about three minutes to go, but the Cardinals pushed the lead back to five by the end of the quarter at 51-46. North Central effectively ended the threat just four minutes into the fourth after Michaela Reedy capped a 12-3 run with a three to push the lead to 14. The Vikings cut it to six with just under two minutes to play, but this time the Cardinals closed it out at the line to pull out a Senior Night win.

Key Stats

• Mayson Whipple (NCC): 4-15 FG (0-6 3PT), 3-4 FT; 11 pts, 8 reb (2 off), 6 ast, 4 stl. Mayson's outside shot wasn't falling last night, but she was hitting fairly well on her driving attempts to the basket. She also did a phenomenal job on the glass, got her teammates involved as she always has, and wreaked havoc defensively.
• Michaela Reedy (NCC): 3-15 FG (2-11 3PT); 8 pts, 9 reb (5 off), 2 ast, 2 stl. Mike has had a lot of shooting nights like this where she's getting open looks and they just aren't falling. This was one of them, but she always brings a lot more to the table. She might be the best rebounder on the team, as she goes up strong to pull down rebounds, even amongst taller players. Her nine boards were a team high.
• Lyndsay Brennan (NCC): 5-8 FG (0-1 3PT), 0-2 FT; 10 pts, 8 reb (5 off), 6 ast, 7 stl. I was going to mainly focus on the two seniors, but Lyndsay put up a quadruple-nickel. That deserves recognition. That steal total unfortunately didn't crack the top five in program history (the record is nine, and of that game, plus the four games tied for second with eight, only one came in The System Era. Basketball is weird.)
• Lauryn Alba Garner (NPU): 7-9 FG (3-3 3PT), 1-1 FT; 18 pts, 1 ast, 1 stl. The freshman impressed me last night. She was the key to North Park's offense, and she's going to be a force for this team for years to come. It hasn't been a great year for the Vikings, but they've got a nice piece to build around.

North Central "System" Watch

• NPU Turnovers: 27. After a few games of this number being lower than I'd like, the Cardinals finally wreaked a ton of havoc. North Park threw a fair number of passes away, but to their credit the Cardinals picked up 16 steals on the night, paced by Brennan's seven and Whipple's four.
• NCC 3PT: 6-32 (18.8%). Go figure; the Cardinals lose a game where they shot over 30 percent from beyond the arc, then follow that up with a win where they shot under 20 percent. It took until midway through the second quarter for the Cardinals to get their first three, as they got a couple during that 11-1 run to finish the first half at 2-14. They weren't much better in the second half at 4-18, but hit some key ones, including a few major momentum threes to help end this one.
• NCC FT: 13-22 (59.1%). I'd like to see this figure be a little better, but given where they've been this season, it works. The Cardinals were over 60 percent in the second half (10-16), so they made them when it counted, which is good.
• NCC Charges Drawn: 3. I'm reviving this feature for this game. It was a staple in prior years because Anita Sterling was the master at this art, but the team did a phenomenal job last night. They drew one early, but I missed who took it. Maya Walls and Natali Dimitrova drew the last two and did an excellent job of doing it.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ CRL 75 (7-13, 4-7), AUG 69 (12-9, 5-7)
• @ WHE 70 (17-4, 10-2), ELM 58 (12-9, 8-4)
• Wheaton clinches a berth in the CCIW Tournament
• @ CAR 78 (15-6, 8-4), MIL 60 (5-15, 0-11)
• With Carthage's win, North Central is eliminated from CCIW Tournament contention
• Bye: IWU (18-2, 11-0)

Final Thoughts
I didn't realize the Cardinals had gotten bounced until I went to update the standings on the sidebar of Confessions of a Sportscaster this afternoon. I'm not surprised by it given how the season has gone, and it makes it two years in a row Senior Night has been the night of mathematical elimination. This time though, I'm just glad it resulted in a win. After Wednesday night's debacle, this team needed a pick me up. They got one last night. I'm sure the emotions of Senior Night helped, but so did stifling defense and opportunistic passing lane jumps. The loss is North Park's eighth in a row, and has to be a tough one for them. They're not mathematically out yet, but for all intents and purposes they're just playing out the string now.

Looking at the big picture, the top of the conference is set. Illinois Wesleyan has its toughest test in a long time with a trip to Wheaton on Wednesday and might be their toughest test on the road to a 16-0 CCIW campaign, something that hasn't happened in a very long time. Meanwhile, Carthage and Elmhurst appear to all but have those last two spots locked up. That leaves the bottom five, including a free falling Augie to fight for position.

The Cardinals have four games left, the next three of which are on the road. They have a winnable game at Millikin on Wednesday, then after a Saturday bye head up to Kenosha to play Carthage, who they haven't beat there since 2006. They then close at Wheaton and at home against Augustana on the final day of the regular season. Those last three are tough, but if the Cardinals can at least get to 5-11 in the conference, I think I can live with it.

Once More Into the Gauntlet

I'm running a little behind on this feature, but it's one that I need to run.

Ever since I took over the PA gig at North Central, I've always taken a look at the conference standings at the halfway point of the schedule. It's good to get a look at what's going on and see where everyone stands with seven (or now, eight, with Carroll's return to the conference) games to play.

In a week and a half I'll have a look at where North Central stacks up regionally, but that's only because that's when the NCAA releases its regional rankings. For now, we're going to stick with the conference standings, for both the men and the women. Pictured at the start of each section will be a screenshot of the conference standings pulled from the Confessions of a Sportscaster sidebar as of Monday, January 22nd.

2017 CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament Preview

In years past, I've done a women's tournament preview as well, and done that first. This year, since North Central didn't make the women's tournament, I'm going to skip that one and instead leave my thoughts on the matter to the regional rankings post and the knowledge that a #4 seed has never won a CCIW Tournament game, and only once has a #2 seed won the tournament. But that's about the women.

Today I'm looking at the tournament North Central did make, so let's preview the CCIW Tournament.

One More To Go: A CCIW Update

I didn't get to watch any of it live, but I'm reveling in the upset pulled off by NCC against Illinois Wesleyan. I guess if you maybe want to get technical, both of them.

The regular season all comes down to Tuesday, and while most of the CCIW Tournament field is filled, the seedings are still very much up for grabs. And so as I like to do on an annual basis going into the final game, here are the scenarios for seedings in next weekend's CCIW Tournament.

I do want to express my thanks to the D3Boards community for working out all of the men's scenarios, which greatly helped my understanding of how Tuesday's stuff was going to work.

A Second Run Through the Gauntlet

This is a feature I've run almost annually since I started Confessions of a Sportscaster, but it's the first year with nine teams. I think that means we're getting this started a few days earlier than we have been. Of course, I'm also writing this a couple days after we got through the first CCIW runthrough.

CCIW play is a double round robin, so every team in the conference plays everyone else twice: once at home and once on the road. There were a few quirks this season where some teams have played five games at home or on the road in conference, but for the most part most teams have played four at home and four on the road. The rest of the way, the sites flip. So with that in mind, let's have a look at the CCIW standings and how North Central looks going into the second half.

Game Notes: (MBK) North Park University @ North Central College (1/7/17)

Final Score
NPU 76, NCC 73

Game Summary
The Cardinals (8-6, 2-3) got off to a good start inside, and went outside a little bit as well to jump out to an early 8-4 lead. The Vikings (10-2, 3-2) hung around however and eventually turned it into a game of traded leads before hitting back to back threes to take a five point lead. The Cardinals would trail by as many as seven in the first half and would close the gap to just one with about a minute left, but a foul on a three led to three free throws and a 39-35 North Park lead going into the break. In the second half the Vikings caught fire from beyond the arc and were able to build a couple of ten point leads, and with 10:42 left made it a 14 point game. An 8-2 Cardinal run narrowed the gap to eight, and North Central kept up the pressure from there and would tie the game at 71 with just over two minutes to play. North Park answered with a second chance bucket, North Central tied it again with a minute to go, and a foul with 27 seconds to go led to a pair of free throws to make it 75-73. The Cardinals blew a wide open layup, forced a foul, and the Vikings only hit one to make it a three point game with 16 ticks left. North Central committed an offensive foul, intentionally fouled, saw North Park miss both free throws, and called a time out, but the desperation three fell short both on time and on distance as the Vikings escaped Gregory Arena with a win.

Key Stats

• Colin Lake (NPU): 5-11 FG (3-7 3PT), 5-5 FT; 18 pts, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl. As a team, North Park was excellent from beyond the arc, but Lake led the effort with a trio of triples and those three free throws right at the end of the first half to make a one point game a four point game. Lake also had a pair of steals to help key North Park forcing the Cardinals into mistakes.
• Jordan Robinson (NPU): 4-5 FG (1-2 3PT), 5-8 FT; 14 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 4 ast, 2 stl. The early favorite for CCIW Player of the Year did not disappoint, though he only played 27 minutes, getting pulled in the first half with two fouls. These numbers don't scream "Player of the Year" caliber, but Erwin Henry did a good job limiting him, though he still got his. He hit what turned out to be the game-winning free throws, even taking into account that he missed three of them in the final seconds that nearly caused him to wear goat horns.
• Alex Sorenson (NCC): 10-16 FG (1-3 3PT), 2-4 FT; 23 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 2 ast, 1 blk. North Park is a smaller team, so getting Sorenson going was a key in this game, and he got the Cardinals off to that hot start. He was almost unstoppable in the paint, but he missed that wide open layup on the same called play that tied the game at 73. It ruined an otherwise excellent night for the preseason All-American.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ Carroll 66 (7-6, 2-2), Millikin 49 (2-11, 0-4)
• @ Carthage 75 (10-3, 4-1), Elmhurst 67 (5-8, 1-3)
• @ Illinois Wesleyan 84 (11-3, 3-2), Wheaton 75 (6-7, 2-2)
• BYE: Augustana (10-3, 3-1)

Final Thoughts
This one hurt. North Park is one of the better teams in the conference, and they showed why with a gutsy road win. I didn't even mention North Park's Juwan Henry, who went 7-16 from the floor for 17 points, four assists, and three steals, and hit his usual bevy of tough layups and step back jumpers. Dude is the most talented offensive player I've seen in my time working Division III basketball. I've also been hard on the Vikings, him and Jordan Robinson in particular for their demeanors the past two years, but I have nothing to nit pick about this year. Both were gentlemen on Saturday, so maybe they've finally matured, and that's part of why North Park is such a good team this year.

I definitely think the Cardinals miss Connor Raridon. Guys like Tommy Koth and Matt Cappelletti, who have seen some extended time of late, especially the latter, are good rotation pieces, but it's hard to replace Connor's production. He was still in a cast on Saturday, and I don't know anything further about his prognosis, but the Cardinals need to start winning games and stay afloat for when he returns.

The Cardinals embark on a three game road trip with a bye in between, starting with their first game against Carroll in a quarter century up in Waukesha on Wednesday night. The Pioneers have adjusted fairly well to the CCIW, sitting at 2-2 so far, but for the Cardinals this is as close to a "must-win" game as you can get without it actually being "must-win."