Although North Central led by as many as 13 points in the second half, Elmhurst tied the game at 54s with seven minutes on the clock after the Bluejays’ Brian Lee canned a jumper. However, Adam Teising (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) answered with a jumper of his own to put North Central back up 56-54. Two free throws by Chris Martin later brought Elmhurst back to within two at 58-56, but Dan Walton (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North) responded with a three-pointer for a 61-56 lead with 2:59 left that effectively sealed the win.
“You know they’re going to make a run,” Teising said of the Bluejays, who finished their season 17-9. “But we sat tight, maintained our composure and then Walton hit that big three for us.”
Walton finished with a game-high 20 points, but more importantly, he held the CCIW’s leading scorer (Martin) to only 12 points on 2 of 11 shooting. The All-American entered the game averaging 26 points vs. North Central.
“I paid a lot more attention to him this time,” Walton said of his opponent. “You’ve got to always stay on him and make sure he doesn’t go off. Even if Chris (Drennan) or I got screened off, we always had someone there to help out.”
Also finishing in double figures for North Central was Anthony Simmons (Bolingbrook, Ill./Romeoville) and Teising with 12 points apiece. Adam Krumtinger (Towanda, Ill./Normal) added 11 points. Simmons pulled down 15 rebounds and Walton eight.
Brent Ruch’s 14 points led Elmhurst. Lee finished with 10, and Martin led the Bluejays in rebounding with 10.
In the first half, North Central trailed early 12-6 but forced an Elmhurst timeout at the 14:21 mark after Walton canned a turnaround jumper to trail by one at 12-11. The Cardinals later took a 22-14 lead with 10:53 on the clock after Simmons hit a three-pointer in transition from the top of the key coupled with fast-break layups from Chris Drennan (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) and Teising.
North Central led by 10 points at 31-21 with six minutes before halftime when Drennan (on his back) found Krumtinger underneath for an easy two. Elmhurst closed the gap to seven at 39-32 at the break after Evan Patchett hit a long three-pointer with 15 seconds left.
North Central led by as many as 12 on several occasions in the first half thanks to seven offensive rebounds and numerous second-chance points. The Cards outrebounded the Bluejays 21-8 overall in the first half and shot 17 of 29 from the floor (58 percent) while holding Elmhurst to 9 of 26 (34 percent). North Central finished with a 39-26 rebounding advantage.
Notes: The 21 wins ties the record for most wins in school history. The 1989-90 team also had 21 wins.