A fourth straight win over its crosstown rival did not come easily for the North Central College men's basketball team on Wednesday, as the 21st-ranked Cardinals fought off a late comeback attempt and negated a one-point deficit in the final seconds to defeat Benedictine University, 65-64, at the Dan and Ada Rice Center in the annual Battle for Maple/Chicago Avenue. 

North Central improved to 8-1 and retained the Bill Warden/Tony LaScala Trophy, the traveling trophy between the two teams, after Jayme Moten sank a game-winning jumper in the paint with 8.3 seconds to go and the Cardinals came up with a stop on the game's final possession. The Eagles (5-4) nearly claimed the win despite leading for only one minute, 15 seconds of the 40-minute contest.

The Cardinals owned their largest lead of the night at 50-40 with 14:43 to play in the second half before Benedictine began to rally. Trailing, 54-46, the Eagles scored three straight baskets in the lane before a three-pointer by Shawn Soelter gave the hosts their first lead at 55-54 with 7:47 on the clock.

After a Benedictine possession which came up empty despite two offensive rebounds, the Cardinals moved back in front on Moten's jump shot. North Central's next two possessions resulted in a layup by Charles Rosenberg and a free throw from Joe Kennell, and the Cardinals owned a 59-55 edge with 5:25 left. Two free throws from the Eagles' John Dodson were answered by a Moten layup, and Benedictine's Kevin Rollins scored on the inside before the Cardinals' Jack Burchett responded with a layup off a steal and assist by Rosenberg to keep North Central in front, 63-59, with just 1:30 left.

Rollins scored on the next trip down the floor while getting fouled by Burchett and converted the three-point play to cut the lead to 63-62 with 1:10 left. The foul was Burchett's fifth, disqualifying him from the game. After a North Central turnover, Dodson rebounded his own missed shot to extend the Eagles' possession and Adam Reynolds wound up drawing a foul from Rosenberg, which was his fifth as well. Reynolds sank both free throws with 19.1 seconds to play, giving Benedictine the lead for just the second time.

Despite missing six of his eight previous field-goal attempts in the second half, Moten stepped up to knock down the go-ahead bucket. Dodson's last-second running jumper rimmed out as time expired.

The Cardinals shot 54.0 percent (27 of 50) from the floor in the game, including a 60.9 percent clip (14 of 23) in the first half. Rosenberg tied a career high and led all scorers with 25 points on 12 of 18 shooting while also leading North Central with nine rebounds and three steals. Moten finished with 14 points and five rebounds and shared the team lead in assists (4) with David Fuller, and Henry totaled 10 points. Tahron Harvey and Michael Blaszczyk led the Eagles with 12 points each.

The Cardinals are idle until traveling to Alliance, Ohio, for the University of Mount Union M-Club Classic. North Central will face Olivet College (Michigan) on Saturday, Dec. 27 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time before taking on Adrian College (Michigan) on Sunday, Dec. 28 at 1:00 p.m.