PICTURED: Jordan Robinson

Despite shooting less the 45 percent for the game, North Park relied on its defensive effort to run its win streak to six to start the season as the Vikes earned a 72-68 win over No. 16 Illinois Wesleyan Wednesday night.

North Park – currently ranked No. 18 in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll – rolled into a first-place tie atop the CCIW conference standings as both NP and Carthage hold 2-0 records. North Park's victory over IWU also marked the first time in program history the Vikes defeated both Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana College on the road in the same season.

Junior Jordan Robinson tallied a game-high 28 points on 10 of 16 shooting and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark of his three-year career (1,049 points). He did most of his damage in the first half though as he scored 21 of his 28 in leading NP to a 43-35 lead at the break. The Vikings led wire-to-wire and built as much as a 21-9 lead after a three-pointer from Joe Biko with 12:35 left in the first half. IWU did whittle the deficit to one after a 16-5 scoring run closed the gap to 26-25 five minutes later, but NP responded with a 17-6 clip of its own to push the lead back to 43-30  after a Robinson jumper.  

North Park forced 18 IWU turnovers – nine in each half – and scored 28 points off the mistakes. Despite being out-rebounded 35-31 overall, NP owned a 12-5 advantage on the offensive glass which led to 15 second chance points.

A lay-up from Trevor Seibring cut NP's lead to three with 13 seconds left, but 1 of 2 free throws from senior Juwan Henry was just enough for the Vikes to hold on.

Henry tallied 13 points and had four of NP's six steals. Darius Brown added nine points on 4 of 7 shooting and junior Colin Lake finished with eight points as he buried a pair of three-pointers. Four different Titans finished in double-figure scoring led by 13 points from Seibring.

North Park (6-0, 2-0) returns to action Saturday night when it hosts Carroll University at 7 p.m.