Returning to Carthage College's Tarble Arena after a hard-fought overtime battle just nine days earlier, the North Central College men's basketball team stared down the possibility of heading to an extra session once again in Friday's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament semifinals before Aiden Chang knocked down a 12-foot jump shot as time expired to lift the fourth-seeded Cardinals to a 87-85 victory over top-seeded Carthage.

The win puts North Central (16-10) into the CCIW Tournament championship game on Saturday, also at Tarble Arena, against 24th-ranked Augustana College (19-7). The third-seeded Vikings upended second-seeded North Park University, 86-70, in Friday's first semifinal to set up the first title game between No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the 12-year history of the event. The Cardinals will be making their fourth appearance in the championship game, winning each of the three previous occasions (2006, 2012, 2013).

North Central appeared to have played itself clear of any potential drama midway through Friday's contest, leading for more than 36 minutes of the 40-minute affair and pulling ahead by as many as 23 points after halftime. The Cardinals completely bottled Carthage up in the opening period, limiting the Red Men to 28.0 percent shooting (7 of 25) and owning a 24-9 advantage in rebounding before heading into the break with a 41-24 lead.

The Cardinals led, 58-35, following a three-pointer by Matt Cappelletti with 13:53 to play. Carthage (18-8) worked steadily to cut into its deficit, eventually coming within single digits once again at 72-68 with 4:04 left after Drew Joiner scored five points in a 30-second span. North Central owned a 75-71 lead with 2:21 to play before the Red Men got two free throws from Kienan Baltimore, then took the lead at 76-75 as Jordan Thomas came up with a steal and converted a three-point play with 2:05 to go.

Erwin Henry alertly grabbed an offensive rebound and went back up with the shot clock running down, drawing a foul and sinking both free throws to nudge the Cardinals back in front, 77-76, then ran hard down the middle of the floor to get open for a layup off a press-breaking pass from Jagger Anderson, completing a three-point play of his own to give North Central an 80-76 lead with 1:16 left.

Trailing, 85-81, inside the final minute, Carthage twice drew fouls in the last 14.2 seconds, and Mike Stevenson and Kevin Kozil each made 2 of 2 free throws to level the score at 85-85 with just 4.2 seconds to play. Taking the inbounds pass from Henry, Chang charged down the middle of the floor and released his floating jumper just before the buzzer, giving North Central an elusive win over the Red Men after two earlier losses this season.

All five of the Cardinals' starters scored in double figures. Anderson led all scorers with 21 points and handed out six assists, while Alex Sorenson finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Chang and Cappelletti each scored 15 points and Henry totaled 13. 

Baltimore came off the bench to lead Carthage with 16 points, while Stevenson scored 15, Kozil added 13 and Thomas put up 11. 

Saturday's CCIW Tournament championship game is scheduled to tip off at 7:00 p.m.