Saturday night's encounter with Illinois Wesleyan University wound up containing a great deal more drama than initially thought for the North Central College men's basketball team, as the Cardinals spent the entire second half whittling down a sizable deficit, tying the score before a last-second bucket by the Titans allowed the visitors to escape Gregory Arena with a 68-66 win.

North Central (3-4, 1-2 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) trailed, 39-23, at halftime and still faced a double-digit deficit with less than 10 minutes to play. The Cardinals went on an 8-2 run in the final three minutes to tie the score at 66-66 with 12.7 seconds to play. IWU's Colin Bonnett drove the lane and delivered the game-winning basket as the horn sounded to end the contest.

The rally began in earnest when the Cardinals scored nine straight points, including five in a row from Erwin Henry, to narrow the gap to 44-34 and prompt an IWU timeout with 15:18 on the clock. The Titans countered with six consecutive points of their own, and still held a 55-40 lead before two free throws from Kane Wildermuth and three-pointers by Mike Pollack and Connor Raridon pulled the hosts to within seven points with 9:16 left.

The deficit shrank to just two points at 60-58 following two free throws by Alex Sorenson, but the Titans got two free throws from Jason Gregoire before IWU's Jaylen Beasley grabbed his own missed shot and dunked it to restore some breathing room. 

Trailing, 66-62, with just over a minute to play, the Cardinals' Aiden Chang sanked a three-pointer from the right wing. After a defensive stop and an offensive rebound by Connor Raridon, North Central called time with 14.0 seconds to play. Raridon lobbed the inbounding pass to a waiting Sorenson under the basket, drawing a foul. Sorenson converted one of two shots to tie the contest at 66-66.

Raridon led all scorers with 20 points, hitting the 20-point mark for the third straight game, while also putting up eight rebounds and seven assists. Sorenson finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds and Pollack scored 11 points.

Bonnett led the Titans (7-1, 2-1 CCIW) with 15 points, while Beasley scored 11 and Brady Rose finished with 10.

The Cardinals travel to face Aurora University (4-3) in conference play on Tuesday. Tipoff at Thornton Gymnasium is set for 7:00 p.m.