Jan 03, 2015
On a night when both teams' leading scorers were hampered by foul trouble, the North Central College men's basketball team got contributions from several other parts of its lineup Saturday evening and turned in a strong second-half stretch run to open College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play with a 78-72 victory over ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University at Gregory Arena.
North Central's Charles Rosenberg and IWU's Ryan Coyle entered the game as their squads' most prolific scorers this season but saw abbreviated minutes and were limited to four and three points, respectively. Stepping in to lead the way for the 21st-ranked Cardinals (11-1, 1-0 CCIW) was senior forward Jack Burchett, who matched his career high with 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the floor and a 7 for 8 effort at the free-throw line to lead all scorers. After 13 ties and 14 lead changes, North Central led for the final 13:11 and pulled ahead by as many as 11 points late in the contest.
The first half alone was tied nine times, the last of which came at 26-26 with 6:10 before halftime. A three-point play by Burchett nudged the Cardinals ahead, 29-26, and a jumper in the lane by Erwin Henry gave North Central its largest lead of the first half at 32-28 with 3:34 on the clock. IWU's Trevor Seibring sank the final basket of the first half with 18 seconds left to narrow the gap to 36-35 at the break.
The teams continued to battle back and forth early in the second period, as the Titans (8-4, 0-1) took a 46-43 lead on Mike Marietti's three-point play with 15:11 left. Burchett countered with a three-point play of his own to knot the score once again at 46-46, and the hosts moved in front just a few seconds later when David Fuller came up with a steal and assisted Rosenberg on a layup. Rosenberg drew a charge on the next IWU possession, and Brandon White's jumper with 13:10 left bumped the lead up to 50-46 and prompted a Titan timeout.
Owning a 60-56 advantage with 8:36 left, North Central put together a run of seven straight points to lead by double digits for the first time. Henry tallied five points in the surge, sinking a jump shot and 3 of 4 free throws, and Kevin Honn added a layup following a steal by Jayme Moten. The Cardinals appeared to be in control with a 71-60 advantage and 4:05 to play, but IWU began firing from three-point range and took advantage of four straight missed field goals by North Central to get back into the game. The Titans hit three three-pointers, the last of which came from Jordan Nelson with 59.8 seconds to go, slashing the home team's lead to 72-70.
Burchett drew a foul on the next possession and sank both free throws, then came up with a defensive rebound on an other IWU three-point attempt and passed to Moten, who was fouled and made both free throws. Moten added two more charity shots with 4.7 seconds left, helping the Cardinals improve to 4-0 at home and win their fifth straigh game.
Moten finished with 16 points, while Henry established a new career high with 15 and Honn scored 11. White led the Cardinals with a career-best seven rebounds. North Central has led at halftime and limited its opposition to less than 50 percent shooting from the floor in each of its 11 victories this season.
Seibring led the Titans with 15 points and six rebounds, while Nelson scored 14 off the bench.
North Central travels to face Millikin University on Wednesday. The Big Blue are 6-6 overall and 1-0 in the CCIW following a 77-67 victory at North Park University. TIpoff at the Griswold Center is set for 7 p.m.