Covenant News

Vikings Upset Top-Ranked Wheaton in Conference Play

CHICAGO, IL (February 8, 2003) - Irving Richardson scored his team's final 11 points and North Park University (NPU) upset D3hoop.com's 19th ranked team Wheaton College 76-73 in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) game played Saturday night at North Park's gymnasium.

After Wheaton's Nate Collard tied the game 71-71 with a 3-point shot with 1:29 left in the contest, Richardson answered with two foul shots at the 1:07 mark to put NPU ahead to stay. Joel Kolmodin missed an inside shot on Wheaton's next possession and Richardson hit a 3-point field goal with 12 seconds remaining. Kolmodin scored with four seconds left to narrow the NPU lead to 76-73. The Thunder got the ball back after Sneed Deaderick missed two free throws, but Kolmodin's full-court heave fell short as the Vikings notched their first CCIW win and knocked Wheaton out of the conference lead.

Deaderick scored 23 points and Richardson added 18 for NPU (11-8, 1-7) while Billy Lebeter had 14 points off the bench. Collard led all scorers with 25 points, but Wheaton (15-4, 6-2) struggled at times offensively as Kolmodin was held to 21 points, three under his average, while plagued with foul trouble.

Despite a sub-par CCIW season, NPU has played well in the first half of nearly every conference game, leading seven of eight times. The Vikings led 40-39 at intermission on Saturday behind Deaderick's 15 points and seven 3-point field goals.

Wheaton took a 60-56 lead with 7:04 left on Kolmodin's two foul shots after Collard made two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws in a span of 52 seconds to put his team ahead. Lebeter scored five straight points to put NPU up 63-62 with 4:09 remaining and the game was a seesaw battle from there.

NPU travels to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for a 7:30 p.m. CCIW contest Wednesday. The Vikings host North Central College at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

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