All photos courtesy of Dr. Jeff Nelson; North Park Univ.
CHICAGO, IL – Returning home for their final hosted contest of the season in the form of Senior Night, the Vikings took on the Redmen of Carthage College.
Looking to close in on the NPU three-point record, Colin Lake launched a shot from the corner in the Vikings' first possession.
Drawing a foul, Lake sank all three free shots and gave the Vikings an early 3-0 lead.
However, the Redmen were ready to respond and moved to a 20-12 lead.
Senior Dyron Woods helped the North Park cause with a layup, followed by two Matt Szuba three-pointers; both near the top of the key.
North Park 24, Carthage 28.
Knocking down their own pair of threes, coupled with some Viking foul trouble, the Red Men improved their lead to 38-26.
The Vikings chipped away at the Red Men lead with a pair of Billy Kirby layups from the right side, as well as well-earned, high layup from by Colin Lake.
At halftime, North Park 38, Redmen 55.
Billy Kirby and Matt Szuba led the charge in the first half; both with 11 points.
First to score in the second half, Dyron Woods sent home two short jumpers, followed by a pair of high-traffic layups for Jason Hines.
Yet, the Redmen tipped the scales once more; 68-51.
The Vikings stole the momentum on a tip-slam by Dyron Woods, followed by a seemingly no-look turnaround three-point by Colin Lake.
North Park 58, Carthage 71.
The next big shot came from a Jason Hines three in front of the NPU student section. However, the Vikings still trailed by 14.
With just over four minutes left, the Vikings needed a big push to get back into the game.
Unfortunately, the Vikings could not make up for the gap and fell by a score of 85-75.
Despite the loss, history was made tonight. Senior Colin Lake needed 3 threes to tie and 4 threes to be the sole three-point leader at North Park University. He knocked down 5 in the second half and officially became the three-point leader in commanding fashion.
The new career best for three-pointers is set at 253.
This concludes the season for North Park men's basketball. the Vikings finish their season 5-20 overall, and 1-15 in CCIW play.
Seniors Jason Hines, Colin Lake, and Dyron Woods were all honored prior to tonight's game.
Hines scored 8 points with a pair of threes in the final game of his career.
Colin Lake broke the school record for threes in a career and totaled 24 in tonight's game.
Dyron Woods matched a season-best 10 points with a thunderous tip-slam to finalize his career.
