The teams went into halftime tied at 32s, despite the Cardinals holding Clarke to just 38 percent shooting. The Crusaders came out of the break strong, establishing an 11-point lead in the opening minutes. But the Cardinals fought back and closed the deficit to one with 1:38 left on the clock.
With 29 seconds remaining and the visitors down by three, Anthony Simmons (Bolingbrook/Romeoville) was fouled. The sophomore sunk both charity shots to push the score to 66-65 in favor of Clarke. On the ensuing inbounds, Daniel Walton (Carol Stream/Glenbard North) immediately fouled the Crusaders' Hiraman Byrd. Byrd missed the front-end of the one-and-one, and Walton pulled down the defensive rebound.
Head coach Todd Raridon called a quick timeout as 26 ticks showed on the game clock. When play resumed, the Cardinal offense let 11 seconds roll off before Walton scored the winning jumper, the first North Central lead in over 17 minutes of play. Simmons was credited with the assist. Clarke had time for one more possession and with one second remaining, Byrd was able to get a shot off, but it was rejected by Simmons as the buzzer sounded.
Four Cardinals scored double digit points, including Simmons with 11, Walton with 12, Mike Wilson (Naperville/Naperville Central), the leading scorer with 16, and Patrick Flanigan (Downers Grove/Downers Grove South) with 14. Wilson was also the team's top rebounder, pulling down 12 boards in addition to recording five assists, zero turnovers, and two steals. Flanigan was 3 of 4 from behind the arc.