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North Central, Wheaton split

With 7:17 to play in Saturday night's CCIW men's basketball game, Wheaton College had cut archrival North Central's lead to 7 points from 19 and had all the momentum.

And then the momentum swung 180 degrees.

The Cardinals went on a run of their own and coasted to a 72-55 victory in Wheaton.

"I think part of that was just our defense stepped up," Cardinals coach Todd Raridon said. "I thought we made some nice plays defensively. We got some rebounds. To stop a run you really have to stop it at the defensive end."

Cardinals guard Aiden Chang, averaging 6 points a game, scored 20. Matt Cappelletti added 16, Connor Raridon (Neuqua Valley) 13 and Alex Sorenson 10.

The Cardinals held Wheaton guard Aston Francis to 20 points, below his 27.8 points a game average. Francis scored 9 of his points at the free-throw line and made just 5 of 24 shots, 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

"I thought our defense was better tonight than it has been in a while," Todd Raridon said. "I think that showed. They have some terrific offensive players, and it had to be. Our defense had to be outstanding and I thought for the most part, they're going to hit their shots, but I thought we did what we needed to."

Women's basketball

Wheaton 67, North Central 30:

The Thunder (21-4, 13-2) won its 15th consecutive game by blowing out its archrival. Hannah Frazier (Batavia) led the Thunder with 12 points, Devin Kyler scored 11, Kelly Lawson had 10 and Maggie Dansdill (Wheaton Warrenville South) added 8 for Wheaton, which led the Cardinals (5-19, 3-12) 18-4 after one quarter.

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