North Central falls in CCIW opener
North Central College's men's basketball team had three players record personal-best point totals Wednesday night, but it still wasn't enough.
The Cardinals fell to No. 25 Illinois Wesleyan 84-79 in Naperville in both teams' CCIW opener.
Freshman Derek Raridon (Neuqua Valley) had a game-high 34 points for the Cardinals (7-5, 0-1), David Twyman (Bolingbrook) added 24 points and junior Brian Evans (Glenbard North) far exceeded his season averages with 16 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.
"We needed about two more guys to step up," Cardinals coach Todd Raridon said. "It takes more than three guys to make it, it takes more than just one guy. I know Derek would be the first to tell you that. He would gladly get rid of 34 to win the game."
Part of the problem was Illinois Wesleyan's shooting. The Titans made 62 percent of their shots, mostly by taking advantage of their size and experience down low.
Doug Sexauer led the Titans (10-2, 1-0) with 23 points.
"The Sexauer kid killed us inside," Derek Raridon said. "He was much more physical than us, and we had a really tough time trying to stop him. It was frustrating because we knew what he was doing every time, but he still scored on us."
The Cardinals got off to a great start, taking a 9-2 lead. The Titans scored the next 13 points, however, and never trailed again, building a lead as big as 12 points.
"It was unfortunate," Todd Raridon said. "I thought we got off to a great start, and that was important. But obviously we didn't control the inside defensively and they made a run when they went inside.
"But they're such a dangerous team from the outside. I thought we did a nice job on the perimeter defense, it's just that we couldn't get so much help on the inside and that's where they scored their points."
"Wesleyan's a really good team, and to only be down (8) at half and lose it there, it's a tough loss," Derek Raridon added. "Especially now that we have to go play at Wheaton (on Saturday afternoon), who's ranked even higher than Wesleyan."
Derek Raridon, the coach's son, already is averaging more than 21 points a game.
"I had a lot of open looks and drew a lot fouls and got myself some easy baskets there," he said.
Evans is averaging just under 5 points a game, but his teammates needed his effort Wednesday.
"Brian played great," Derek Raridon said. "The big guys kind of stepped out on him, and he's quick with the ball and he kind of went around them offensively and played with a lot of energy and got real easy buckets for us."