Photo courtesy of Dr. Jeff Nelson; North Park University

WAUKESHA, WI - The North Park University Men's Basketball team made the northern drive to Waukesha, Wisconsin to take on the Pioneers of Carroll University.

Coming off of a close 62-66 loss against #8 Augustana College, the Pioneers marked the first basket of the game 12 seconds into play.

Junior Billy Kirby sharply responded on North Park's next possession when he buried a three to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead.

After a jump shot from Carroll's Nick Penny, Kirby responded once more on a fastbreak layup to recapture the lead 5-4.

Following one more lead change, the Vikings would go on to score six straight points thanks to 4 points in the paint for Dyron Woods and a layup for Colin Lake.

However, the Pioneers came to life and flipped the lead again when a cluster of layups and a three-pointer put them ahead 27-18.

The Vikings answered with a three of their own from freshman Matt Szuba and a pair of free throws by Billy Kirby to narrow the deficit to four points.

Kirby capped off the scoring for North Park with another three-pointer as the buzzer indicated the end of the first half. The Vikings trailed 26-31.

Colin Lake opened up the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer, followed by a perfect trip to the free throw line for Billy Kirby as North Park brought themselves within one.

Matt Szuba added to the momentum on a fastbreak layup to give North Park their first lead of the half 34-33.

Unfortunately, this was their last lead of the game and the Vikings fell to the Pioneers 68-49.

With the loss, Carroll snapped the red-hot Colin Lake's double-digit scoring streak at 16 games. Currently sitting on an overall record of 4-11 and a CCIW record of 1-6, the Vikings will face 8th-ranked Augustana College on Saturday night.

STANDOUT PLAYERS

• Billy Kirby emerged as the leading scorer for the Vikings with 12 points from two three-pointers and four perfect trips to the charity stripe
• Dyron Woods tied his season-high with 6 points in the contest. He also pulled down 3 rebounds
• Jason Hines, Josh Washburn, and Vegard Tangen all added 4 points off the bench

WHAT'S NEXT?

The men resume their conference schedule on Saturday night where they will host 8th-ranked Augustana College. The Augustana Vikings are currently 13-3 on the year, with a CCIW third-best 5-2 record. They lead the CCIW in scoring defense, with an average opponent's PPG of 66.2.