After struggling to shake free from its opposition all night long, the North Central College men's basketball team closed with a five-minute stretch which provided ample breathing room Wednesday evening, resulting in a hard-fought 61-47 victory over Carroll University in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play at Gregory Arena.

The 20th-ranked Cardinals (6-0, 2-0 CCIW) trailed by as many as eight points early in the second half, but pulled even before outscoring the Pioneers, 14-1, over the final 5:02 to extend their unblemished start to the season.

Plagued by foul trouble and an uncharacteristically-high 12 turnovers in the first half, North Central trailed by a 26-19 count late in the first period before Blaise Meredith's three-point play closed the gap to 26-22 at halftime. Carroll (2-5, 0-2) sank the first two buckets of the second half to take its largest lead at 30-22 with 18:11 left to play.

The hosts went to work cutting into the lead soon thereafter, holding the Pioneers scoreless for the next five minutes. Meredith drove the lane for a layup and Aiden Chang came up with a steal and a fast-break score before finding Tommy Koth for a three-pointer from the right corner to slash the deficit to 30-29, and Will Clausel's two free throws with 13:43 to play put the Cardinals back in front, 31-30.

Kale Maupin broke Carroll's scoring drought with a jumper that briefly put the guests back in front, but Chang drilled a three-pointer and came up with another steal and layup to give the Cardinals their largest lead since the opening minutes of the game. The Pioneers, however, bounced back and retook the lead at 37-36 on Tarren Hall's three-pointer, and once again Clausel responded with a pair of free throws to nudge North Central back in front. Carroll took the lead for the final time at 40-38 following a three-point play by Ray Pierce. 

Matt Cappelletti sank two free throws to tie the game at 40-40, then converted another charity shot with 8:04 to play to give the Cardinals a 41-40 advantage, but the issue remained in doubt as the lead never grew larger than three points before another three-point play by Meredith left the score at 50-46 with 4:42 left. North Central slammed the door with three-pointers by Chang, Mike Pollack and Connor Raridon on successive possessions, harassing the Pioneers into 0 for 4 shooting with a pair of turnovers in the final five minutes.

The Cardinals shot 58.8 percent (10 of 17) from the floor in the second half and owned a 32-20 rebounding advantage. Meredith led all scorers with a career-high 19 points while also handing out five assists. Cappelletti posted his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Chang put up 10 points and three steals. Tyler Ingebrigtsen was Carroll's leading scorer with 10 points. 

North Central resumes CCIW play on Saturday, hosting North Park University (2-7, 1-1). Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.