Technically speaking, Cardinals foul up Thunder
In its first 15 games everything seemed to go right for Wheaton College's men's basketball team.
For the last three games very little has gone right, so when two referees lined up single file at the scorer's table to dole out technical fouls late in the second half Wednesday, it wasn't a good sign for the Thunder.
North Central College used the bounce from 4 made free throws to take an 81-66 victory from the seventh-ranked Thunder (15-3, 4-3 CCIW) in Naperville.
With 4:11 left in the game, Wheaton freshman Tim McCrary and North Central's Matt Rogers came down together with a rebound and went to the floor trying to wrestle the ball from each other. The officials called a double technical, plus McCrary was called for going over Rogers' back. Thunder coach Bill Harris picked up a technical foul, the fifth in the game, arguing the double technical.
North Central (13-5, 5-2) made all 4 of its free throws to stretch its lead to stretch its lead to 71-59.
That was the game's turning point, Harris said.
"We don't know what would have occurred in the last (4:11)," Harris said.
"You never want to see technicals happen," said Cardinals coach Todd Raridon, who got a technical foul in the first half. "The game was very physical and it was a typical conference game. Whether that was a key play, maybe it was, but I felt like we did a nice job executing down the stretch too offensively."
North Central did most of its damage in the paint, despite giving up a lot of size to Wheaton's big men. Chris Drennan got the Cardinals out to a first-half lead by scoring 16 of his 18 points in the first 20 minutes before foul trouble got him in the second 20. That's when Matt Rogers picked up for Drennan, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the second half.
"We got them the basketball in positions where we could score, and two, they did a nice job of getting to the basket, finishing, and they've had some trouble with that," Raridon said of Drennan and Rogers.
"(They) killed our big guys," Harris said. "Killed our big guys. Killed our big guys."
The game marked the return of Wheaton All-America guard Kent Raymond, who missed two games due to a sprained ankle. He came off the bench to score 13 points in 20 minutes, but he clearly wasn't at his best.
"Right now we're not healthy and in shape," Harris said about Raymond. "Take Kobe Bryant off of the Lakers or Kevin Garnett off of the Celtics, and they're probably going to lose a few games."
North central 81, Wheaton 66
Wheaton - Jahns 3 2-2 9, Panner 2 3-4 8, McCrary 6 2-3 14, Wiele 1 6-10 8, Carwell 4 0-2 8, Pflederer 1 1-2 4, Raymond 3 7-9 13, Carr 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 0-0 2. Schultze 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 21-32 66.
North Central - Raridon 5 6-6 17, Prince 1 2-2 4, Barringer 2 6-6 11, Twyman 4 0-0 8, Drennan 8 2-2 18, Knapczyk 0 0-0 0, King 0 1-2 1, Rogers 7 6-9 20, Corso 1 0-2 2. Totals 28 23-29 81.
Wheaton 30 36 -66
North Central 36 45 -81
3-point baskets: W: Jahns, Panner, Pflederer. NC: Raridon, Barringer.
Fouled out: W: McCrary. NC: Drennan