Cardinals drop Wheaton

Chris Drennan is definitely a difference-maker for the North Central men's basketball team.

On Saturday Drennan came back after missing seven games with a broken hand and contributed 23 points as the host Cardinals held on to upset 13th-ranked College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rival Wheaton 73-72.

North Central was 1-6 with Drennan on the sidelines.

The Cardinals (7-6,1-1) led 71-61 with just over three minutes remaining in the game, but Wheaton battled back to cut the deficit to a point as time ran out.

The Thunder (11-2, 1-1) was led by All-American Kent Raymond, who poured in a game-high 37 points. .

Transfer Mitch Rogers, who gained valuable experience in Drennan's absence, led the Cardinals scoring with 30 points.

"It felt good to get back in there," Drennan said. "A lot of players got a lot of experience when I wasn't in there, and that will make us deeper down the stretch."

"When we struggled like we have, any win is good," said North Central coach Todd Raridon. "A win against a team like Wheaton gives us confidence. Just having Chris back in the lineup gives us confidence."

It didn't start off well for the Cardinals (7-6, 1-1). Wheaton jumped out to a 9-2 lead, with Raymond scoring 7 of those points.

"Coach called timeout and told us we looked scared," Rogers said. "He said, 'Don't play scared.' So everyone just dug down deep and put everything on the floor. We played with a lot of heart tonight, and that's what we needed."

After that shaky opening the Cardinals battled back to tie the game at 22-22 and pass Wheaton to take a 33-26 lead to halftime.

North Central never trailed in the second half, though Wheaton was able to narrow the gap to 55-53 mid-way through the period.

""We did a nice job of getting the ball inside and scoring," Raridon said. "This was a good game to watch, to coach in and to play in. Any win you can get in conference is huge."

Wheaton coach Bill Harris characterized the game for his team as a tale of two halves.

"We got out of rhythm in the first half and we got nothing out of our bigs," Harris said. "We made some really dumb plays out there tonight. We lost our man on defense several times and we gave up offensive rebounds off missed foul shots repeatedly in the first half.

"But I'm pleased with the way we came back. I thought we could have won it and should have won it."

The Thunder outscored North Central 11-2 in those final three minutes with Raymond keying the offense, but it wasn't quite enough.

Ben Panner, who finished with 14, hit a 3-pointer with two seconds to go to bring the Thunder within 1.

Wheaton center Andy Wiele scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.