The North Central College men's basketball team took the best shots Aurora University could throw at it Tuesday evening, overcoming a seven-point second-half deficit by dominating play over the final 12 minutes and departing Thornton Gymnasium with a 83-68 victory.

The Cardinals (4-4) strung together 11 straight points midway through the second half to pull ahead for good and led by at least 10 points for the final four minutes, defeating their local rivals for the third time in the past four seasons.

North Central was led to victory thanks, in part, to a school-record effort by Connor Raridon, who handed out a program-best 13 assists without a single turnover, while Alex Sorenson led all scorers with a season-best 29 points and tied a career high with 15 rebounds.

The Cardinals led by as many as eight points on a trio of occasions in the first half before Aurora (4-4) connected on four three-pointers in a two-minute span, three of which came from senior guard Pat Kramp, to take a 28-26 lead with 6:01 on the first-half clock. The lead changed hands six times before North Central put together a 6-0 run consisting of a 14-foot jumper by Matt Cappelletti and a jumper and putback from Soreonson and wound up taking a 42-38 advantage into halftime.

Aurora scored eight of the second half's first 11 points to pull back in front, and extended its advantage to 57-50 following Marcus Myers' layup with 12:15 to play. After a timeout, the Cardinals got a jump hook from Sorenson, a three-point play by Blaise Meredith and a three-pointer from Mike Pollack to regain the lead. Sorenson followed with five straight points to give North Central a 63-57 lead with 7:18 to play. 

Pollack knocked down a trio of free throws and sank a three-point shot before Sorenson scored six points in a 91-second span to put the contest out of reach. Sorenson's point total is the highest reached by a Cardinal in a single game thus far this season.

The Cardinals shot 51.7 percent (30-58) from the floor in the game and outrebounded Aurora, 42-33. Pollack finished with 17 points, all of which came in the first half, while Henry put up 15. Myers scored 16 points to lead Aurora.

North Central travels to face Alma College (Michigan) on Friday. Tipoff at Art Smith Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.