CHICAGO, Ill. -- After a crucial win over Carthage College this past weekend, the North Park Men's Basketball team secured second place in the CCIW for the moment and received votes in the national Division III rankings. Tonight, the Vikings (14-6, 9-2) hosted the struggling Thunder from Wheaton College (3-16, 0-10) in hopes to continue their rhythm after a loss to Augustana College two weeks ago and the big win over Carthage.
Through the early going both teams were trading baskets as the Vikings were trying to push the pace on the Thunder, getting the ball up the court quickly and trying to harass their opponent with their signature pressure defense. Just as Wheaton found their groove and got out to an early 14-9 lead, senior Rico Powell knocked down a three before the Vikings burned a timeout to slow the Thunder at 14-12. Following the timeout, senior Tristan Arneaud picked the pocket of the hot-handed Wheaton forward Soren Richardson for the game tying fastbreak layup.
That seemed to be the spark for the Vikings, shooting 6-7 from three-point land as a team before ten minutes went by and they shared the ball well through the first half as well with 14 assists. While Richardson seemed to be the Thunder's only offense with 23 first half points, the collective effort of the Vikings was on full display with every player who touched the court scoring at least once. Senior Preston Bax III was at the front of North Park's offensive attack with 12 first half points on an efficient 5-5 shooting and 2-2 from three, adding 2 steals to the stat sheet as well.
Senior TJ Gardner controlled the pace for the Vikings, posting 4 first half assists along with his 8 points in which he got from getting to the paint, pulling up from the mid-range, and catching the Wheaton defense on their heels after they scored by pushing the ball with his speed advantage. Junior Lance Nelson had 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and a steal providing the hustle and intangibles that he's brought all year. Senior Rico Powell had a quiet 7 points as well, helping lead the team to a 50-43 lead at half.
The hot start that the Vikings got out to went cold for the first five minutes of the second half shooting 2-9 from three in the first five minutes of play. On the other hand, Wheaton continued to find good shots and stay hot behind Richardson's, who had 40 points with just under 8 minutes to play in the second half. The Thunder got out to a 78-71 lead that was cut down to 80-77 after Bax and junior William Bates hit back-to-back three-point shots.
Down the stretch, Wheaton extended their lead 89-80 seemingly unable to miss, shooting 8-12 from behind the arc. With the table turned in the Thunder's favor, they maintained control the rest of the game with their 22-28 free throw shooting to the Vikings 9-16, while the Vikings relying on their three-point shooting that just wasn't there against the Wheaton zone.
Three Vikings scored 15 points, another posted 11, and four players scored at least 6. This type of widespread arsenal is exactly what any offense is looking for, but it wasn't enough against a team that shot 50% from deep and had 12 more free throw attempts. North Park posted a season-high 28 assists as a team with only 12 turnovers, winning both the assist and turnover battle over Wheaton. Both Junior Lance Nelson and senior TJ Gardner notched career highs in assists tonight, Nelson with 11 and Gardner with 8, however two career nights ended with a Thunder victory 102-89.
Top Performers
Soren Richardson – 53 PTS, 6-8 3PT
Kyan VanderWoude – 17 PTS, 10 REB
Preston Bax III – 15 PTS, 3 STL
Rico Powell – 15 PTS, 5 REB, 1 STL
TJ Gardner – 15 PTS, 8 AST (career high), 3 STL
William Bates – 11 PTS, 2-3 3PT
What's Next?
With only four regular season games remaining, North Park has two at home and two on the road, starting with North Central College in Naperville on Saturday, February 8th to take on the Cardinals at 4:15pm.
