Cardinals clinch CCIW title

Jared Shlensky
Asst. Sports Editor

After defeating the Millikin Big Blue by a score of 91-58 on Saturday, the Cardinals have officially clinched the CCIW title along with improving their overall record to 18-7 and 12-2 in conference play.

Leading the way for the Cards was Kevin Gillespie, ’12, who was honored on Saturday at Gregory Arena for senior night. Gillespie finished with a game-high 17 points along with six assists.

Gillespie explained how senior night felt somewhat like just any other game.

“I knew it was senior night and that it was the night where usually you play your last home game in front of your fans, but because I knew we would play here again the next weekend if we won, I initially just thought of it as a normal game,” said Gillespie “But when me and Ryan [Broyles] were recognized beforehand and then my name being called for starting line ups with everybody cheering, that emotion rushed back to me.”

NCC opened up the first half with a 12-2 lead through the first four minutes of play after Vince Kmiec, ’14, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers.Kmiec finished with 15 points on the night, all from beyond the arc

The Cardinals extended their lead to 19 after Derek Raridon, ’13, sank another Cardinal 3-pointer.

North Central made 11 3-pointers in the first half and shot 15-25 from beyond the arc throughout the entire contest.

The Cardinals headed into the half with a commanding 57-23 lead.

In the second half the Cards established their interior offense as Landon Gamble, ’14, and Aaron Tiknis, ’13, converted on consecutive layups to start the second half.

NCC went deep into their bench in the second half to close this ball game out, in fact all 16 Cardinals players saw at least one minute of action in this contest.

Earlier in the week NCC defeated the North Park Vikings by a score of 75-49 in Chicago, Ill. NCC struggled to break out to a comfortable lead until the end of the first half.

With 06:21 left in the first half the Cardinals jumped out to a double-digit lead after Raridon nailed a pair of free throws.

The Cardinals closed out the first half leading 38-22 thanks to a 10-5 run.

North Central turned it up even more in the second half with a 12-5 run to open up the second half behind a pair of 3-pointers from Tiknis,  and Kmiec.

Stepping up for the Cardinals in the second half were bench players Charlie Rosenbeg, ’14, and C.J. Goldthree, ’14.

Junior captain Raridon stressed the importance of the Cardinals’ bench play after the win over North Park.

“We have a lot of guys off the bench who can score,” said Raridon. “C.J. [Goldthree] when he comes into the game and gets hot, keep giving him the ball because it’s going in. And it’s nice to have that off the bench, just in case guys are in foul trouble to know that others can come in and score.”

Also coming up big for NCC was center Gamble, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Gillespie said there are still some things the Cardinals can improve on before the start of the conference tournament.

“Defensively we need to get back into a mode where everyone knows their jobs and is helping each other,” said Gillespie. “But if we run our offense and keep it efficient we’ll be fine.”

Gillespie touched on how important hosting the CCIW tournament really is for North Central.

“It’s huge to play here, especially on our home court where we have played well at times,” said Gillespie. “Especially with how banged up we are to be able to use our own training facilities.” 

The Cardinals first game of the CCIW tournament is Friday against the Augustana Vikings.Tip-off from Gregory Arena is slated for 7 p.m.