Jeremy Rushing
Contributing Writer
The North Central College men’s basketball team had a strong finish to their 2013-14 campaign this week, defeating Wheaton College 71-66 on senior night before closing out the season with a 80-76 victory at Elmhurst.
The Cardinals started their final week of the season on Saturday, February 15th with an emotional senior night showdown with bitter rival Wheaton.
The team’s four seniors, Landon Gamble, Pat Rourke, Brandon Williams, and Vince Kmiec were honored before the game for their contributions to the program during their time at North Central.
In the beginning it looked as though the jam-packed student section at Gregory Arena wasn’t going to get the magical senior night result they were looking for as the Thunder jumped out to a 10-0 lead, capped off by a three-pointer from Caleb DeMoss
The Cardinals clawed their way back into the ball game.
Junior forward Jack Burchett, who had eight points in the first 12 minutes of the ballgame, put the ball through the cylinder to give the Cardinals a 25-23 lead with under eight minutes to play in the first half.
North Central continued to build on their success inside, going on a 23-6 run.
A Williams jumper gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the first half, 32-25, with 4:38 remaining in the opening frame.
The Thunder didn’t go away though as Tad Fisher knocked down a three-pointer just before halftime to tie the game at 36 at the break.
The second half was a major back-and-forth battle, as the game was tied 38-38, 40-40, 47-47, and 49-49.
The latter tie came courtesy of a Kmiec jumper with 11:55 to play.
The Thunder started to look like they would pull away, as a layup from first-team All-CCIW guard Tyler Peters gave Wheaton a 59-53 lead with 6:27 on the clock.
As they did all game, the Cardinals responded. An 11-0 run, capped off by Gamble taking advantage in the post, gave the Cardinals a 64-59 lead, which they would never relinquish.
With North Central up 65-63 and just over a minute left, Kmiec found himself open at the top of the key and drilled what ended up being his final in-game shot at Gregory Arena.
That shot all but guaranteed the Cardinals would win their final home game of the season. The four Cardinal seniors combined for the team’s last nine points en route to a 71-66 victory.
Williams was the star of the night with 16 points, four rebounds, and four steals. Williams was also near perfect from the field, making five of the six shots he took and nailing all six of his free throws.
Burchett finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kmiec added 10 points and six rebounds.
“You always want to go out with a win on senior night,” said Kmiec. “We had a great crowd and got the job done against one of the best teams in the conference.”
North Central wrapped up their season this past Saturday at Elmhurst.
The teams traded leads to start the game before the Cardinals went on an 11-0 run, finished off by two free throws from Kmiec to give NCC a 20-13 lead with 8:05 to play in the first half.
A Gamble layup gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the first half, 30-19, with 1:33 left in the opening frame. NCC took a 32-23 lead into halftime.
Gamble had a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes of playing time in the first half.
Overall, the Cardinals dominated Elmhurst in the paint in the first half, outscoring the Blue Jays 20-12 on the interior.
North Central sustained a multiple possession lead for all but nine seconds of the second half, leading by double digits on multiple occasions.
A Williams free throw put NCC up 72-62 with 1:39 to go and it looked like they were going to run away with it.
But Elmhurst fired back in a hurry, scoring 10 points in a minute to cut the Cardinals lead to 75-73 with 30 seconds left.
Unfortunately for Elmhurst, the Cardinals knocked down all of their free throws down the stretch on their way to an 80-76 season-ending victory.
Gamble finished his North Central career with a career high 33 points against the Blue Jays and also chipped in nine rebounds.
Williams added 17 points, six assists, and five rebounds in his final college game. Kmiec wrapped up his NCC career with a 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Cardinal seniors combined for 63 of North Central’s 80 points in their final collegiate game.
“[The seniors] have meant a great deal,” said Raridon after the win. “What they’ve brought to the program since their freshman year is tremendous. They’ve given everything they had over the last four years.”
