The two most-highly rated defensive teams in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin squared off at Gregory Arena on Saturday, and both teams lived up to their advance billing as North Central College held Augustana College scoreless for the final four minutes of play and defeated the 15th-ranked Vikings, 43-41.

The Cardinals (15-6, 9-1 CCIW) maintained sole possession of first place in the CCIW standings and joined the 1988-89 team as the only North Central squads to own a 10-0 record at home. North Central also completed a season sweep of Augustana, which shared last season's CCIW title with the Cardinals.

North Central had more than its share of difficulties getting its offense on track early, missing its first 12 shots from the floor. The Cardinals, however, did manage to rein in Augustana's attack and trailed by just two points after Vince Kmiec finally got North Central on the board with a three-pointer with 10:48 left in the first period.

The Cardinals took thune lead for the first time on Aaron Tiknis' three-pointer, which left the score at 8-7, but a 7-0 run by Augustana put the guests ahead, 14-8, with 6:25 to play before halftime. Another three-pointer by Kmiec narrowed the gap to 18-17, but the Vikings got a jumper from Bryant Voiles and a putback by Brandon Kunz to take a 22-17 advantage into the break.

Tiknis got rolling once the second half began, feeding Kevin Gillespie for a layup on the first possession of the period and sinking a three-pointer to tie the score at 22-22. After a putback from Augustana's Kameron Norton, Tiknis scored four straight points to give the Cardinals a 26-24 advantage. The Vikings briefly took the lead once again at 28-26, but another three from Tiknis and a lauup by CJ Goldthree gave the Cardinals a 31-28 edge with 11:31 left.

Kunz scored the next six points for Augustana while the Vikings held North Central scoreless for nearly four minutes, though a three-point play by Tiknis tied the score at 34-34. Troy Rorer knocked down a jumper and Danielius Jurgutis sank two free throws to nudge Augustana in front once again, 38-34, though Gillespie's three-pointer and a free throw by Raridon tied the game once again with 4:41 left.

The Vikings' Mark Roth hit from three-point range with 4:23 to play, but it would be the last Augustana basket of the evening. North Central took the lead for good on a three-point play by Goldthree with 2:07 to play and denied a pair of Viking scoring attempts in the final seconds.

The Cardinals managed just 29.2 percent shooting (14-48) against Augustana's defense, but limited the Vikings to 31.8 percent accuracy (14-44) and forced 25 turnovers. Tiknis finished with a game-high 19 points and shared the team lead in rebounds (5) with Landon Gamble. Goldthree added 10 points and Kmiec recorded four steals.

North Central limited Augustana's five starters to 14 total points. The Vikings' top performer was Kunz, who put up 12 points and 12 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.

The Cardinals travel to face 24th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University (16-5, 7-3) on Tuesday. Tipoff at the Shirk Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.