The North Central College men's basketball team put a significant size advantage to good use on Sunday, establishing new school single-game records for blocked shots and cruising to a 72-57 victory over the Kalamazoo College Hornets at the Anderson Athletic Center.

The fifth-ranked Cardinals (6-0) turned in their second road victory in as many days after blocking a school-record 10 shots and building a large early lead. The North Central block party was led by Aaron Tiknis, who rejected a record six shots while tying the single-game school record with 10 assists and leading the team with seven rebounds. The Cardinals are off to their best start since the 2005-2006 team opened its campaign with 12 straight wins.

Kalamazoo (2-3) made its first three shots from the floor and owned a 7-5 edge early on, but the Hornets were held without a successful field-goal attempt for the next 11 minutes. Vince Kmiec put North Central in front with two straight inside baskets, and a pair of buckets by Derek Raridon extended the Cardinals' advantage to double digits for the first time at 20-10. North Central took its largest lead of the half at 34-16 after Brandon Williams' putback with 5:34 on the clock, and the Cardinals carried a 40-24 lead into halftime.

North Central outscored the Hornets in the paint, 28-10, in the first half while shooting 60.7 percent from the floor. The Cardinals were not threatened in the second period, never seeing their lead dip below 11 points and pulling ahead by as many as 22. The visitors wound up limiting Kalamazoo to 34.6 percent accuracy (16-46) from the field, holding an opponent under 35 percent for the fourth time in six games, and shot a season-best 80.0 percent (16-20) from the free-throw line.

Kmiec led the Cardinals with 19 points while also contributing six rebounds and four assists while Landon Gamble scored 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Derek Raridon tallied nine points, moving into seventh place in career scoring at North Central (1,315).

Kalamazoo's Mark Ghafari led all scorers with 23 points, while Aaron Schoenfeldt came off the bench to score 17.

The Cardinals return home to host Simpson College (2-4) on Saturday. Tipoff at Gregory Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Links to live audio and in-game statistics can be found at northcentralcardinals.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball.