The Millikin men's basketball teams rallied late in the game, but fell one point short losing at North Park University 70-69 in Chicago on January 3, 2018.

          Millikin lead early in the first half before the Vikings took control and pulled out to a 43-34 advantage at the half.  The Big Blue would out score the Vikings 35-27, but a game winning shot with two seconds left missed the mark.  Millikin trailed 60-50 with eight minutes left in the game and got the lead down to single digits with 7:08 remaining on an Elijah Henry layup.  Henry connected at the four minute mark to pull the Big Blue to 64-40.  The Vikings pushed the lead back to eight on four made free throws, but Millikin continued to battle.  A Davante Harrell basket pulled Millikin to within three points with 45 seconds remaining.  A Michael Charles steal leading to a Henry dunk made the score 70-69 North Park with 14 seconds to go.  After a North Park turnover, Millikin had a shot at the win in the final seconds, but could not convert.

          Millikin shot 47 percent from the field and went 3-9 from the beyond the three-point arc.  Millikin left points at the free throw line going 12-25 (48 percent).  North Park shot 41 percent and went 10-27 (42 percent) from three-point range.  The Vikings were 16-20 (80 percent) from the free throw line.  North Park had a slight edge in rebounding 40-37.

          Henry had a career high 29 points to lead Millikin along with 13 rebounds.  Harrell had 14 points and six boards.  Zach Fisher added 10 points for Millikin.

          Billy Kirby had 19 points to lead North Park followed by Colin Lake with 18.

          Millikin is now 8-5 overall and 1-3 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) action.  North Park improves to 4-7, 1-2.

          Millikin travels to number two ranked Augustana College on Saturday, January 6.