Fighting off a stubborn opponent and a rash of ballhandling miscues, the North Central College men's basketball team improved to 3-0 on the young season Tuesday with  67-63 victory over the Aurora University Spartans at Gregory Arena.

Playing for the final time at home in 2014, the Cardinals nearly saw a large halftime lead slip away before making just enough clutch plays to avenge a 91-82 loss to Aurora from last season. 

North Central took some time in getting its offense going, missing its first seven shots before Kevin Honn's three-pointer hit the mark with 16:06 on the clock. The hosts led briefly, 9-8, after Jayme Moten's triple, but the Spartans were in front most of the way before the Cardinals embarked on what would become the decisive run of the contest.

Trailing by a 19-16 count, North Central got back-to-back layups from Honn and Evan Fendley before sinking five free throws in six attempts to pull ahead, 25-19. Aurora's Brandon Smith knocked down a three-pointer, which was quickly matched by Fendley, and two free throws from the Spartans' Tyler Hall were negated by a layup from Honn. Moten delivered a three-point play with 3:44 to go, and Smith scored what turned out to be the visitors' final point of the opening period on a free throw with 3:34 to play.

Over the next 90 seconds, the Cardinals knocked down three straight three-pointers, the first from Fendley and the final two from Moten, to break the game open and prompt an Aurora timeout. Erwin Henry closed the half with a putback of his own missed shot and sent North Central into halftime with a commanding 44-25 lead. The home team sank 7 of 13 three-pointers (53.8 percent) in the opening 20 minutes while limiting Aurora to 25.0 percent accuracy (8 of 32) from the floor.

North Central still owned a 16-point advantage at 60-44 with 6:43 to play when Smith scored seven straight points to spark a 12-0 run that got the Spartans within four points with 3:06 left. Moten sank his fifth three-point shot of the game to slow Aurora's progress, but Smith responded with a three of his own and Hall drove the lane for a bucket to leave the Spartans with just a 63-61 deficit with 1:06 left.

The Cardinals' Joe Kennell sank two free throws, which Aurora answered with Kyle Pilmer's inside jumper. North Central had to call two straight timeouts to solve the Spartans' full-court press before Honn fired a long pass to Moten for a layup with 15 seconds left. The Cardinals then successfully defended two final possessions to seal the win.

Moten finished with 20 points on 7 of 11 shooting, making 5 of 8 three-pointers for North Central, which held on for the win despite committing 22 turnovers. Charles Rosenberg turned in his first double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds while also leading the Cardinals with a career-best six assists, while Henry scored 10 points off the bench.

Smith made 11 of 19 shots and scored a game-high 30 points for Aurora (2-2), while Pilmer scored 11. 

North Central plays the first of eight straight games away from home on Saturday, traveling to take on the 11th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (3-1). Tipoff at Quandt Fieldhouse is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.