NCC 80
Millikin 69

Ameli Sanchez took a page out of Kennedy Hartwig's book and broke a 49-all tie after three quarters with a four point play to spark an 8-0 run and the Cardinals were able to put the Big Blue away down in Decatur. When you score 27 points off 23 turnovers (including 13 steals, all while allowing just four off 10 yourself), you're usually gonna have a good time.

Kennedy Hartwig: 24 pts, 4 reb
Ameli Sanchez: 16 pts
Jocelyn Trotter: 6 pts, 9 reb, 4 stl

Bella Dudley: 19 pts, 5 reb
Izzy Hay: 11 pts, 8 reb
Nikkel Johnson: 11 pts, 7 reb

NCC was without Biz Daly tonight; not sure what was going on there, but I'll take a win at the Griswold Center, especially since this is Maggie McCloskey-Bax's first in her tenure at North Central. The last Cardinal win in Decatur came during the final System season under Michelle Roof in 2016-17.

NCC 82
Carroll 78 (OT)

In today's episode of Taylor Janssen Hates Playing in Naperville, NCC led for most of the contest, but did not take a dreaded double digit lead, though their highest cushion of nine was immediately cut into by the Pioneers. And yet despite that, Carroll missed seven of their 19 second half free throws. Despite that, NCC still couldn't put the Pios away in regulation. Tre Davis hit a three to put NCC up four with just under a minute left, but taunted the guy guarding him to earn a tech. Then after Tyler Surin broke a 63-all tie with a deep three with under 20 seconds to go, the Cardinals stupidly fouled Michael McNabb on a layup, which he turned into a three point play to tie the game with under 10 seconds left. NCC had a shot to end it in regulation, but Alejandro Diaz missed from the baseline and we got free basketball. NCC never trailed in the extra stanza, and even wised up at the end of overtime by fouling up three and benefitting from the intentional second miss not even coming close to hitting the rim.

Alejandro Diaz: 16 pts, 5 ast, 3 stl (missed basically all of overtime with an injury; he said he was "good" postgame, but was noticably limping)
Justin Sveiteris: 14 pts, 6 reb
Tyler Surin: 10 pts, 9 reb

Michael McNabb: 29 pts
Lamar Smith: 14 pts, 6 reb, 3 blk
Dennis Estepp: 10 pts

NCC overcame an eight point halftime deficit and led by ten with under nine minutes to play. As has seemed to happen a lot, the Cardinals couldn't hold it and they drop yet another single digit game 98-93 at Augustana.

Cam Atkinson: 24 pts, 5 reb
Eli Aldana: 19 pts
Jake Willems: 18 pts

Seth Cheney: 23 pts
James Bullock Jr: 17 pts, 11 reb
Tyler Surin: 15 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast

Carroll 78
NCC 74

Ultimately this game turned with about two and a half minutes left in the second quarter. The Cardinals had led 27-21 midway through the period thanks to some hot early three point shooting, but Carroll was in the midst of an 13-0 run to take a five point lead. Kennedy Hartwig was seemingly fouled on a three point attempt (as she does; this literally happens at least once every game), except Biz Daly was called for an offensive foul while battling for position against Ryann Wendt. Walking down the court, it looked like she was making a gesture for a replay review, but it sounded like she said something that drew a technical foul call, giving her four fouls with over half the game still left and likely resulting in a five point swing following Emilie Wizner hitting the technical free throws.

And yet despite that, the Cardinals were able to hang around and kept it close. Unfortunately, NCC missed nine layups, including one that would have tied the game at 72, and the Pioneers were able to close it out.

Julia Lokker: 26 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast
Natalie Gricius: 23 pts, 5 reb, 3 stl
Emilie Wizner: 14 pts, 4 reb, 6 ast

Jocelyn Trotter: 21 pts, 4 reb
Dolly Smith: 14 pts, 7 reb
Grace Keiffer: 8 pts

NCC 67
Wheaton 55

The Cardinals never trailed yesterday, leading 15-5 after one quarter and more or less cruised.

Biz Daly: 10 pts, 8 reb
Jocelyn Trotter: 10 pts, 8 reb
Grace Keiffer: 9 pts, 4 reb, 3 stl

We honored the 2014-15 team at halftime yesterday. Got to see a lot of old friends and they got to see a rarity as this is only the Cardinals' second win over Wheaton in the last 15 or so years.

Carthage 69
NCC 61

The Cardinals only led a couple times in the first half; missing a couple layups early and going just 1-11 from three in the first half will do that. They continue to hang around against teams, but couldn't get over the hump in this one.

Riley Brooks: 21 pts
AJ Johnson: 13 pts, 9 reb
Ryan Johnson: 11 pts, 10 reb

Sean Molloy: 17 pts, 6 reb
Alejandro Diaz: 13 pts
James Bullock Jr: 7 pts, 6 reb

Augie 69
NCC 68

Heartbreaker. Augie got a pair of deep threes to end each half, with Jazmeriah Jones hitting the game-winner with about eight second left in regulation to cap an Augie comeback from down five with about a minute to play.

Cali Papez: 21 pts, 11 reb
Tia Lewis: 17 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast
Jazmeriah Jones: 7 pts, 6 reb

Kennedy Hartwig: 15 pts, 4 reb
Natalie Doyle: 14 pts
Biz Daly: 9 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk

Quote from: Gregory Sager on January 06, 2026, 11:58:14 AM

Quote from: mr_b on January 06, 2026, 04:08:46 AMI recall being in faculty meetings when North Park College was considering a name change back in the late 1990s to reflect its wider range of degree offerings.  Several names were being considered: North Park University, the University of North Park, and Nyvall University, in honor of the founder of the school.  While the third choice garnered some support, many faculty and administrators felt that they would lose name recognition among alums and prospective students. This was also during the heyday of the printed Peterson Guides (and other such publications) which listed institutions alphabetically.  The listing for "University of North Park" would have been placed along with a panoply of other institutions that began with "University of...," and prospective students looking for "North Park..." would have come up empty.  I'm not sure how much that weighed in on the final decision, but I'm sure it was a consideration.  I think everyone wanted to continue with the already familiar name, but with "University" replacing "College" in the name.  It seemed to be a logical progression of when North Park went from a Junior College to a four-year institution, starting in 1958.

My alternate suggestion at the time, Axe-Wielding Norse Marauders University, seemed to fall upon deaf ears. I couldn't understand the lack of enthusiasm, since it dovetailed perfectly with my other idea to replace "Hail to the Varsity" with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" as the school's fight song.

If it weren't for the religious ties NPU has, I'd be advocating for "Swedish Pagans" because it would A, go with your "Axe-Wielding Norse Marauders University" name, and B, that song goes hard.

Quote from: CCIWFan69 on January 05, 2026, 12:09:07 PMOn to 2026.... do we have 2 non-conference games this year?  Anything scheduled yet?  Is Wheaton playing Mount Union again and is NCC playing Oshkosh again?

Yeah, the Wheaton/Mount and NCC/Oshkosh were home-and-home's that flip locale for 2026. And yes, 2026 will be the one season of back to two non-conference games with CUW coming in in 2027.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on January 03, 2026, 07:38:13 PMOT final from the airplane hangar:

North Park 92
North Central 87

Mike Vuckovic: 28 pts (11-14 FG), 6 rebs, 7 asts
Kolden Vanlandingham: 15 pts
Jakhi Gray: 14 pts
William Bates: 4 stls

Tyler Swierczek: 21 pts (4-6 trey)
Seth Cheney: 15 pts, 6 rebs
Ale Diaz: 13 pts, 8 rebs
Tyler Surin: 10 pts
Sean Molloy: 10 pts
Ethan Marlowe: 10 rebs, 5 blks

This was one of the best Vikings comebacks I've seen in a long, long time. NCC, which clearly outplayed the Vikings for most of the game, held an 18-point lead early in the second half, and did a good job for most of the second stanza of holding the Park at bay. The Cardinals still held a 10-point advantage with just a little over three minutes left to go in regulation. But the Vikings went on one of their patented supersonic scoring spurts, catching the Cards and actually taking their first lead since midway thru the first half on a pair of Jakhi Gray FTs with 45 seconds left. But NCC responded with a Seth Cheney layup with 28 ticks left, and Kolden Vanlandingham's attempted buzzer-beater rimmed out. However, NPU came out and scored the first four points of the extra session, and the Vikings were never headed in OT.

Another phenomenal game for Mike Vuckovic, who has clearly established himself as one of the premier players in the CCIW. He was a prime mover in the late comeback for the Vikings, along with Gray. The Vikings got Gray back from injury for the Concordia (IL) game earlier this week, and today they got big man Lazario Cornish back as well -- a full three weeks earlier than what I'd been told was his ETA from the disabled list. All of these guys were necessary pieces today, especially with Vanlandingham having an off game (he fouled out in overtime). On the other side of the ledger, North Central lost Tyler Swierczek in the second half due to what appeared to be a broken nose suffered going up to attempt to block a layup. He was certainly missed by the Cards down the stretch and in overtime.

This was another of Vince Kmiec's classic "we played 30-35 minutes of good basketball" kinda games for NCC. The Cardinals just can't seem to keep it together for the entire length of a game, which is really the story of their one-step-forward, two-steps-back season. But they executed very well on the offensive end for most of the game, and they absolutely crushed NPU on the boards, 48-34, including 17-6 on the offensive glass. That would've been the story of the game if the Vikings hadn't been able to mount that impressive comeback.

NPU improves to 10-3, 3-1, and stays in a tie with Carthage for first place, while NCC drops to 5-8, 1-3.

Marlowe's five blocks all came in the first half, and I joked with both Alex Sorenson and Aaron Tiknis before the second half began that their single game block record was in trouble (Sorenson had three six block games in his career, Tiknis did it once). Unfortunately he did not record another in the second half, but apparently he becomes the first CCIW player to post two games of at least five blocks in the same season since Jonathan Zapinski did so for Elmhurst a couple years ago (I'm going by what the North Park Sports Information folks told me. Side note, big thanks to them for jumping in and running stats for us tonight.)

I legit do not get this Cardinals team this year. They have talent, and they have hung with every team this year. But for whatever reason they seem to struggle to close some games out. I got reminded of the first game in the crackerbox with how this one ended. Credit to NPU for fighting back and closing this one out in the extra session.

NCC 67
NPU 64

Wasn't the prettiest game. This was a tight game in the first half, with the Vikings leading by one at the half, and the Cardinals went cold in the third quarter, needing five minutes for their first points and another couple before notching their first field goal. But NPU couldn't fully capitalize, and while they led by seven a couple minutes into the fourth, the Cardinals fought back and ended up hitting six of eight from the free throw line in the final minute to escape with the win.

The key play of the game came with just under a minute to play. Down 62-61, Biz Daly missed a layup and Caroline Long got the rebound. But in the process, she elbowed Kennedy Hartwig in the head and was immediately whistled for her fourth foul. The common foul on the floor was then upgraded to a Flagrant 1 after video review due to "excessive contact to the head/neck." Hartwig split a pair to tie the game, then Long fouled out on NCC's possession off the flagrant foul after hacking Daly on another layup. Daly split another pair, then Hartwig hit all four of hers in the closing seconds to seal the win.

Kennedy Hartwig: 18 pts (13-17 FT)
Jocelyn Trotter: 12 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl
Biz Daly: 11 pts

Aliyah Hershberger: 18 pts, 4 reb
Caroline Long: 11 pts, 10 reb
Shay Bowen: 10 pts

Hartwig's 13 free throws are tied for the fourth most in a single game in program history, and her 17 attempts are tied for third most.

Aurora jumped out to a 16-3 lead at Merner this afternoon, and the Cardinals never really recovered as the Spartans topped NCC 83-59. The Cardinals were within 12 with about five and a half to play, but AU went bombs away from deep over the final few minutes to put it away.

Ameli Sanchez: 15 pts, 5 reb
Jocelyn Trotter: 13 pts, 11 reb

Krystyna Manzanarez had a monster game with 34 and 6 steals for Aurora. They're really good.

Quote from: GusD on December 30, 2025, 07:52:43 PMFinal (In OT)

North Central     91
Bethany Lutheran 90

Inexplicable again! 🤗

* I promise to learn another word soon. 😉

Thanks Dro!

Quote from: Gregory Sager on December 29, 2025, 09:05:16 PMYeshiva got screwed. That was not a kicked ball with 4.2 secs left.

Not even close.

I said "Ball don't lie" when they got the steal off the ensuing inbounds, but I'm really curious what was said to draw the T there.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on December 19, 2025, 11:59:59 AMThis is, AFAIK, the complete list of CCIW triple-doubles. There are five CCIW schools that have no records of a triple-double, but I'm not sure if that's because the program in question has never had a player make a t-d before or because their SIDs have never put them in the record book. The latter seems unlikely, since the t-d has been a noteworthy achievement for at least since the NCAA began compiling official stats for assists and blocks (if I remember correctly, that was 1978). If there are that many CCIW programs that have never had a triple-double before, it only emphasizes just how rare an achievement a t-d is on the college level.

(If anyone knows of any other triple-doubles recorded by a CCIW men's basketball team besides these, please PM me. I'm trying to get Brainard Avenue to put triple-doubles in the CCIW MBB record book.)

CCIW triple-doubles

Lars Anderson, North Park	18 pts, 11 rebs, 10 blks vs. Carroll (Dec 12, 1984)*
Michael Starks, North Park	23 pts, 12 rebs, 13 asts vs. Illinois Wesleyan (Jan 31, 1987)*
Miguel Tharpe, North Park	19 pts, 10 rebs, 10 asts vs. Concordia IL (Dec 7, 1996)
Steve Djurickovic, Carthage	23 pts, 10 rebs, 12 asts vs. Wisconsin Lutheran (Nov 29, 2009)
Tim McCrary, Wheaton	35 pts, 18 rebs, 10 asts vs. Grinnell (Dec 12, 2009)
Connor Raridon, North Central	18 pts, 15 rebs, 12 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 15, 2019)
Fillip Bulatovic, Carthage	29 pts, 16 rebs, 15 asts vs. Greenville (Nov 23, 2021)
Kolden Vanlandingham, North Park	11 pts, 11 rebs, 11 asts vs. Cornell (Dec 18, 2026)

* CCIW game

This is great, thanks Greg! I know the North Central list is complete since they made a big deal about Connor Raridon's when he pulled it off as being the first in program history. I wouldn't know about anyone else though.