PICTURED: T.J. Cobbs

North Park wasted little time taking advantage of eight first half Wheaton turnovers as the Vikings raced to a 38-30 halftime lead in what turned out to be an 82-71 triumph over the visiting Thunder Wednesday night in CCIW action.

The Vikings never relinquished the lead as they built themselves a comfortable 14-point advantage midway through the second half in earning their 10th victory of the season and their second-straight over Wheaton on the North Side in the last two seasons.

Junior Juwan Henry poured in a game-high 29 points as he connected on 10 of 16 field goals, including a perfect 2 of 2 from the three-point line while garnering three steals and three assists. Sophomore Jordan Robinson added a double-double of 19 points and 19 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season.

In all North Park forced 17 turnovers, 10 coming off steals. Junior T.J. Cobbs swiped three steals while dishing a season-high seven assists.

The Vikings opened the game strong as they staked a 7-0 lead on back-to-back lay-ups from Henry and a basket from Darius Brown. They then later pushed it to a 14-5 advantage on a Henry jumper and took their largest lead of the first half at 38-26 on a three-pointer from Robinson with just under two minutes left.

Wheaton regrouped to start the second half and was able to trim the deficit 38-34, but North Park countered with an 8-1 scoring run to push its lead back to 46-35 on another three-pointer from Robinson.

North Park scored 17 points off Wheaton's turnovers and worked the ball inside to produce 42 points in the paint. The Vikings also used their speed to generate 18 fast break points. Colin Lake added 16 points as he connected for three three-pointers and Cobbs finished with seven points. Ricky Samuelson led Wheaton with 21 points.

The Vikings (10-5, 2-2) return to action Saturday when they travel to Millikin for a 7 p.m. contest with the Big Blue.