North Central stops Wheaton
Wheaton College coach Mike Schauer knew exactly why his men's basketball team lost 60-58 to rival North Central College on Saturday night in Naperville.
"I thought (the Cardinals) played great," he said. "They deserved it. The right team won tonight. The team that deserved to win won tonight."
North Central was better right from the start, with Reid Barringer hitting 3 consecutive 3-point shots to get the Cardinals (10-9, 3-5 CCIW) off to an early double-digit lead that the Thunder (13-6, 5-3) never could completely overcome.
"He really hurt us early and we just couldn't get back into it," Schauer said.
"It was a good win," Cardinals coach Todd Raridon added. "We've struggled here in Werner Fieldhouse in conference, so just from that standpoint it was nice to get a win no matter who it was against, anybody in our conference. And especially against a very good Wheaton basketball team."
The Cardinals kept the lead because they kept the Thunder from scoring, holding Wheaton to 32 percent shooting for the game. The Cardinals led by as many as 18 in the first half, 37-24 at halftime.
"It's always easier playing with the lead than playing from behind," Raridon said. "That itself helped us at the defensive end. We haven't given up 24 points in a half in a long time. We're usually in the 30s and 40s we're giving teams."
The Thunder pulled within 2 points late, but the Cardinals made their free throws, and a desperation 3-point shot from Ben Panner just missed at the buzzer.
David Twyman finished with 21 points for the Cardinals, Barringer added 16. Brian Evans (Glenbard North) scored 6 but grabbed 12 rebounds. Leading scorer Derek Raridon (Neuqua Valley) tallied 12 points, 9 below his average.
"The second half we weathered their storm," Todd Raridon said. "We had kids step up and make plays. Brian Evans, I can't say enough good things about Brian Evans on the glass. And David Twyman gets to the basket, Brian gets to the basket. I thought Derek had an off night offensively, but a lot of that was Wheaton was doing."
It was the sixth consecutive loss at North Central for the Thunder, and Schauer, a first-year coach, had heard too much about that.
"For whatever reason we spend a lot of time talking amongst the team - not necessarily me, because I wasn't here when it happened - abut the fact that this is six straight years we've lost here," he said. "We've sort of become consumed by it. I just thought we played that first half like a team that goes, Eh, we can't win here. Just really disappointed. ...
"We really need to break a little bit from the past. I'm fully aware of what Coach (Bill) Harris accomplished, but we spend too much time talking about used to happen."
In the women's game Wheaton won 64-55 behind Lindsey Brenneman's 17 points. Elisabeth Potts added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Brooke Olson 11 points. Jackie Errico led North Central with 17 points and 15 rebounds.