A lineup full of new faces has come together quickly for the North Central College men's basketball team, as the new-look Cardinals impressed in their 2015-2016 season debut in scoring a 83-68 victory over the seventh-ranked University of Mount Union in the opening game of the North Central Tip-Off Tournament at Gregory Arena.

The Cardinals led from wire to wire, owning a 45-32 advantage in rebounding and committing just seven turnovers while forcing 15. North Central owned a 14-2 edge in points off turnovers and scored 16 second-chance points off of 18 offensive rebounds. Leading the way was sophomore forward Alex Sorenson, who put up 27 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots in his first outing in a Cardinal uniform, though the hosts got contributions from several sources throughout the evening.

North Central opened the contest with a 9-2 run, steadily building its lead without committing a single turnover in the first 13 minutes of play. The Cardinals took their largest lead of the opening frame at 37-17 with 5:08 on the clock after an 11-0 run which featured nine points from senior Kevin Honn. The Purple Raiders (2-2) narrowed the gap to as little as 12 points before heading into halftime facing a 42-27 deficit.

The home team was unthreatened after the break, taking its largest lead at 70-49 following two free throws from freshman Aiden Chang with 7:23 to play and never seeing its lead dip lower than 12 points down the stretch. The Cardinals sealed the victory by making four of their final five shots from the floor.

Honn finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Chang contributed 10 points and junior Jagger Anderson handed out a game-high seven assists. Mount Union was paced by sophomore JJ Kukura, who came off the bench to lead all scorers with 33 points on 11 of 21 shooting and lead the Raiders with 11 rebounds. 

Mount Union will take on the 17th-ranked University of Chicago (1-1) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., and North Central will take on Chicago on Sunday at 2:00.