Carthage Overcomes Vikings 71-62

CHICAGO, IL (February 5, 2004) - Numerous guests from the Evangelical Covenant Church's Midwinter pastors conference came to the North Park University (NPU) men's basketball game against Carthage College Wednesday night and the energy from the crowd of 1,200 seemed to help the Vikings for a time.

NPU led by as many as 12 points in the second half as the Vikings seemed to have a little divine intervention on their side. Unfortunately, NPU didn't have a prayer after Carthage forward Mike Morrison started making long-range shots from all over the court in the final moments of the game.

Morrison made eight 3-point shots overall and scored 25 of his game high 28 points in the last 14:38 as the Redmen rallied to beat NPU 71-62. The loss dropped the Vikings to 6-13, 1-7 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play heading into a 7:30 p.m. home contest against North Central College Saturday.

Everything seemed to be going right for NPU in the first half as Brett Mathisen scored 12 of his 21 points and Mike Haehn had nine of his 11 points to lift coach Rees Johnson's team to a 36-27 advantage. The steady stream of inside scoring of Mathisen and Haehn and the team's stellar rebounding (the Vikings out-rebounded Carthage 37-25 overall) were a departure from the norm for NPU, which has relied on outside scoring to stay competitive all season.

Meanwhile, the Vikings held Carthage to 40 percent shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Redmen to one field goal in a span of 6:24.

NPU's dominance continued early in the second half as Lamar Townsend scored on a 3-point field goal and two foul shots to give the home team its biggest lead, 43-31, with 17:01 left. But Carthage went on a 14-2 run and tied the game 45-45 with 14:38 remaining on a Morrison 3-point shot and Morrison hardly missed thereafter, finishing 8 for 10 from the 3-point line. His teammates didn't miss much either - the Redmen made 18 of 29 field goals (62 percent) in the second half.

North Park took the lead again on a Mathisen field goal with 5:33 mark and there were seven lead changes during the next 3:03 as Mathisen and Javier Sanchez matched baskets with Morrison and Theo Powell of the Redmen.

After Mike Haehn's two free throws tied the game 72-72 with 1:52 left, however, Morrison hit a 3-point shot at the 1:37 mark to put Carthage ahead for good, 75-72. A Sanchez shot was blocked by Trevor Cockayne on North Park's next possession and the Vikings never scored again while Carthage iced the game with six free throws in the final 1:06.

Powell scored 21 points for the visitors, now 13-6, 5-3 in conference play. Sanchez added 15 points and had a game high total of nine rebounds and Cal Ecker had a game best six assists to go with eight points.

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