Box Score

The North Park men's basketball team fell 84-63 to host Illinois Wesleyan University in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action Saturday night.

Despite the loss, North Park senior Roshawn Russell turned in his highest point total of the season and the most since his sophomore year as he poured in a team-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-8 from the three-point line. He also had two assists, and a rebound.

North Park fell behind 10-0 to start the contest, but worked its way back to close the gap to 19-16 after Russell hit his first three-pointer of the game with 9:11 left in the first half. Illinois Wesleyan responded with a quick 9-0 scoring run to push its lead back up to 28-16 three minutes later, and took a 38-28 lead at halftime.

The Vikings opened the second half with two quick baskets from Russell and senior Emanuel Crosby to close within 40-33, but IWU held off the rally with 7-2 scoring run to push its lead back up to 12 at 47-35 on a jumper from Jordan Zimmer at the 14:36 mark.

NP did close the gap to nine after another three from Russell, but didn't draw any closer as Wesleyan pushed its lead to as much as 26 points down the stretch.

Junior Mark Holmes added 13 points as the only other Viking in double-figure scoring. Victor Davis led Illinois Wesleyan with 17 points.

North Park (5-16, 1-9) returns to action Tuesday night when it hosts Augustana College at 7:30 p.m.