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Men’s basketball: Diaz, North Central College cruise past Wheaton

Last year, Alejandro Diaz was an integral part of a Fenton team that went 28-5 and won an Upstate Eight title.

Now as a freshman starter for North Central College, he’s kept the winning ways going.

An early 3-pointer by Diaz staked the Cardinals to an 8-0 lead Wednesday, and they didn’t look back in an 86-48 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin victory over Wheaton College.

Ethan Helwig scored a team-high 17 points for the Cardinals at Gregory Arena in Naperville, while James Bullock Jr. tallied 15 and had a game-high 6 rebounds.

Kyle Neibch had a game-high 21 points for Wheaton (3-10, 0-4), a mark that included six 3s.

Diaz, a 6-3 guard, said that the biggest difference he’s seen between prep and college ball is the speed and physical play.

“Physicality, and the quickness of the game,” he said. “The players are a lot stronger and a lot faster. It takes a little time to adjust to that.”

The frosh has helped North Central to a 10-4 record so far this year, now 3-2 in the CCIW.

Cardinals coach Vince Kmiec says that the key to the season has been the closeness of the team.

“This is an awesome group of guys,” said the second-year coach, ”when you factor in everything that makes a student-athlete so great.

“We played a little young last year (the Cardinals finished 10-17), but we’ve got good basketball players who have that team aspect, that fight, and that intensity.”

North Central opened up a 36-27 halftime lead, thanks to a great effort off the bench from senior guard Drew Gaston.

Gaston, who Kmiec called “our X-factor”, put in 11 first half points on 4-of-5 shooting.

“His role is to come in and impact the game,” said Kmiec. “We know Drew can score --- he averages 10 points a game in only about 15 minutes so his points per minute are through the roof.

“But it’s all the other things he does for us, and he did the other things tonight and that translated to points and opportunities for us. If he’s on, he’s dangerous, and we can beat anybody in the country.”

The Cardinals broke the contest open with an 18-0 run to start the final 20 minutes.

Tyler Swierczek, a Palatine grad, started the barrage with a 3-pointer right after the second half tip, and Helwig followed that up with a long 3 of his own.

Swierczek swished two more 3s, the Cardinals played outstanding defense, and the score stood at 54-27 before Wheaton scored its first points of the final half with 14:40 left.

Swierczek finished with 14 points, while Gaston pitched in with 14 points as well.

Gaston said he feels his role is to come in and give his team a spark.

“Just contribute any way I can,” he said. “Play defense, score, get assists, get steals, do whatever the team needs.”

The senior added that it’s “team chemistry” that’s led the Cardinals to their stellar record this season.

“We came together as a team really early (this year),” said Gaston. “It’s going well so far.”

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