A key opportunity for the Vikings just fell short Wednesday night as they couldn't hold on in an 89-72 loss to host Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

A hot-shooting start unfortunately led to cool offensive ending as the Vikings dropped their 15th game of the season.

North Park started strong as it staked a 13-6 lead in the opening seven minutes of the game after freshman Juwan Henry, who scored a team-high 20 points, scored a lay-up off a Marlon Senior turnover. The Vikings then led by as much as 12 points twice in the half –once after a pair of free throws from senior Aaron Weaver, who had 13 first-half points, and again after a three-pointer from Ryan Hyrn with 4:40 left—but Carthage used the final 3:55 to piece together a 15-3 scoring run to head into the locker room with a 42-42 deadlock.

Much of North Park's success in the first half was credited to their superior free throw shooting as they went a perfect 12 of 12 from the stripe. Weaver led the charge as he converted on all eight of his attempts and Henry added four. But a 5 of 10 performance in the second half, coupled with a 37 percent field goal percentage (12 of 32) allowed Carthage to build a 20-point lead in the second half. The Vikings never saw the lead in the second as the Red Men controlled the tempo and opened the period with a 10-2 run to move ahead 51-44 after a Senior three-pointer at the 16:56 mark.

Weaver finished with 15 points, while Hyrn added eight points for the Vikings. Weaver also grabbed seven rebounds. The Vikings did minimize their turnovers, committing only 15 for the game, but lost the rebounding edge by a 34-28 margin.

North Park (4-15, 1-7) returns to action Saturday when it travels to Bloomington for a 7 p.m. contest with Illinois Wesleyan University.