NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- The North Park University men's men's basketball team faced off with conference opponent North Central on Monday, but North Park was not able to get any momentum going in what turned out to be a 39-point loss.
The game started off slow for North Park—falling behind 0-6 off two North Central threes—but the Vikings were able to weather the storm thanks to Gabe Johnson hitting two early threes of his own and Izaiah Sanders getting good looks at the rim. The score was more or less even through the opening 10 minutes of play as both teams experienced their share of runs and droughts. However, the Cardinals began to pull away shortly thereafter on the back of a 4-13 run to bring the score from 16-18 up to a 20-31 lead for North Central. This turned into a 30-44 lead for North Central by the half.
Out of halftime, the Cardinals put their foot on the gas and never looked back. Offensive scoring runs were met with strings of defensive stops to craft an insurmountable North Central lead that would hold for the game's remainder. The Cardinals relied on Blaise Meredith along with Matt and Ethan Helwig for most of their production, with the trio combining for 61 points on just 34 shots.
For the Vikings, Johnson and Sanders built off their strong starts to lead the team in scoring with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Johnson also led the team with 6 rebounds and 4 three-pointers.
Next up for North Park is a rematch with #10 ranked Illinois-Wesleyan. In their last meeting, the Vikings competed with the Titans from the opening jump to the final buzzer in a close loss. The team will look to bounce back and regain form in Bloomington on Wednesday, February 2nd at 7:00.
