PICTURED: Darius Brown

For the second time this month, North Park cracked the top ten in the D3hoops.com men's basketball national poll however were dealt their first road defeat as Manchester University handed NPU its first road defeat of the season, 89-77 Monday evening at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena in North Manchester, IN. The loss came after the Vikings had been slotted ninth in the weekly D3hoops.com poll that was released just ten minutes before tipoff.

The first half was a nip-and-tuck affair in which neither team could muster a lead bigger than five points, with the Spartans going into the locker room with a 40-37 lead at intermission. Manchester then charged out of the gate for six unanswered points in the first 1:07 following halftime, setting the tone for the second half. The Vikings did manage to claw back to within five at 50-45 on a Darius Brown reverse layup off of a T.J. Cobbs feed with 15:01 remaining, and then again on four other occasions – including as late as 1:29, when Juwan Henry rifled a pass to Jordan Robinson under the basket for a layup that made the score 80-75. But each Vikings' run was met with a Spartans answer, and the final spurt by NPU was thwarted by six straight Manchester points in little over half a minute to effectively end the ballgame.

North Park was outrebounded, 39-28, including 15-7 on the offensive glass. The MU rebounding advantage led to a 14-6 second-chance points edge for the Spartans, and by releasing a guard each time the Vikings shot the ball the Spartans were able to pick up numerous fast-break points as well.

NP had been the second-leading team in all of NCAA Division III in three-point shooting percentage as of last Wednesday, but the Vikings connected on only 4 of 18 (22%) attempts. The Vikings did manage to perform well from the free-throw line, where they were 17-20 (85%).

Robinson had his second-straight 30-plus point game as he led the Vikings with 31. His eight rebounds also constituted a team high. Brown contributed 13 points and seven rebounds for the Vikings, while Henry, the reigning CCIW Player of the Week, added 11 points. Cobbs had a fine floor game, dishing out seven assists without giving up any turnovers. All-Region Manchester senior Tyler Alexander, who plagued the Vikings with 30 points and eight rebounds in North Park's 93-84 win over the Spartans back on December 30, again proved unstoppable, as he posted 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Spartans, who improved to 5-10 on the season.

North Park, which is now 12-3 overall returns to College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action Wednesday evening, as the Vikings travel to Decatur to face Millikin in a 7 p.m. showdown.