The North Central College men's basketball team saw an opportunity to move into a tie for first place in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) standings slip from its grasp Wednesday evening at Illinois Wesleyan University, as the Cardinals faded down the stretch and took a 69-61 loss at the Shirk Center.

The fifth-ranked Cardinals (16-2, 5-2 CCIW), who were playing with their full lineup for the first time in two weeks, were outscored, 11-2, over the final four minutes of play and fell two games behind the 16th-ranked Titans (15-3, 7-0) in the chase for the conference title.

North Central senior forward Aaron Tiknis returned from a three-game absence and drained a three-pointer for the game's first basket, but the Titans followed with three straight shots from beyond the arc. Landon Gamble converted a three-point play, Tiknis added another triple, and Derek Raridon sank a three to put the Cardinals ahead once again at 12-9.

IWU bounced back to lead briefly at 17-16 before a Pat Rourke three-pointer. The score was tied at 19-19 when the Cardinals tallied five straight points to take their largest lead at 24-19, but the Titans bounced back promptly with three-pointers from Victor Davis and Andrew Ziemnik to pull ahead, 25-24, and prompt a North Central timeout with 9:30 on the clock.

The lead changed hands six times in the final eight minutes of the opening half. Raridon negated a 38-35 deficit with a three from the right corner with 1:23 left, but Ziemnik countered with the Titans' seventh three-pointer of the half and sent the hosts into halftime with a 41-38 edge.

IWU pulled ahead to a 49-41 advantage with 13:50 to play before the Cardinals got two free throws from Gamble, an inside jumper from Jack Burchett and a layup from Vince Kmiec to slash the deficit to two points with 10:54 left. Burchett scored again in the paint to tie the game at 53-53, and the teams traded baskets before the Titans' Brady Zimmer converted a three-point play.

Gamble scored in the post to narrow the gap to one point, then found Rourke cutting to the basket for a layup to give the Cardinals their first lead of the second period at 59-58 with 4:07 to play. IWU tied the score on a charity shot by Zimmer, then took the lead for good on back-to-back jumpers by Ziemnik and Kevin Reed. North Central was unable to muster another comeback attempt, missing eight of its final nine shots from the floor.

Despite missing some time in the second half after sustaining a cut on his forehead, Raridon put up a game-high 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting. Gamble turned in 13 points and Tiknis collected 10 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots in his return to action. 

Ziemnik led five IWU double-figure scorers with 19 points, while Dylan Overstreet put up 13 and Davis added 12. 

The Cardinals travel to face 25th-ranked Wheaton College (14-4, 4-3) on Saturday. Tipoff at King Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.