ANKENY, Iowa-- Men's Basketball rebounded from a thorough defeat on Friday by claiming a one-sided victory of their own on Satrday evening. North Central was defeated 93-57 by the University of Dubuque in Dubuque on Friday but responded by knocking off Faith Baptist Bible College 104-74 on Saturday in Ankeny to earn a split on their Iowa road trip weekend.

Friday saw North Central (5-3, 0-0) roughed up by a bigger deeper team in the University of Dubuque (Dubuque, Iowa). North Central was able to hang in the game for much of the first half and trailed just 25-18 with a bit more than 10 minutes left in the half. But the Spartans went on an 11-2 run over the next three minutes that helped distance them from NCU and the home team lead 52-30 at halftime.

Dubuque then used an 8-0 run to begin the second half and North Central would never be closer than 28 the rest of the way. North Central hung in on the glass being outrebounded by a narrow 43-42 margin but shot just .364 (20-55) while UD fired .477 (31-65) from the floor. Senior Matthew Shepherd (Counsil Bluffs, Iowa/Homeschool) was the only Ram in double figures with 10 points on 3-5 shooting including 2-4 from behind the 3-point line. Junior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) pulled down a game high nine rebounds to go with six points despite playing only 23 minutes with foul trouble.

Saturday the Rams got a chance to bounce back from a tough loss and Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, Iowa) was the victim of North Central getting back on track. NCU was able to forge ahead by double figures at several points in the first half but Faith Baptist, always a tough team on their home court, kept the game within reach before a 13-4 Rams surge over the last three minutes gave North Central a 58-39 lead at the break.

Faith Baptist would make several runs in the second half using three point shooting to trim the lead to 69-56 with 15:10 left in the game. But a jumper from sophomore Juice Washington (St. Louis, Mo./Maplewood-Richmond Heights) who then pulled down a defensive rebound that led to a three pointer from junior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) pushed the lead out to 18 and it was never under 16 the rest of the way.

Sophomore Clarke Mossman (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown) hit a jumper at 10:07 that pushed the lead to 83-63 and that would be the closest the game would be over the last 10 minutes. North Central shot over 57 percent in the second half, all 12 players that traveled played at least 3 minutes and ten scored.

In a game with just 60 combined rebounds the two teams shot a high percentage from the floor with Faith firing over .400 (25-62), great overall percentage. But the Rams singed the nets with a 41-67 (.612) night to pull away for the road win. Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) North Central's balanced attack of six players in double digit scoring with 18 points and a game high 8 rebounds.

Jordan Harrell added 17 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 3 assists with just 1 turnover. Bryce Burkman (Winsted, Minn./Maple Grove) added 16 points and 7 rebounds. Josh High scored 13 points on 3-5 from behind the 3-point line. Freshman Isaiah Rustad (Hudson, Iowa/Hudson) chipped in 11 points while Juice Washington added 10 points and 5 rebounds.

North Central will wrap up the 2013 portion of its schedule on Tuesday with a match up at Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.) on Tuesday. NCU takes on the Scots at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul. The Rams will open the 2014 side of their slate on Saturday, January 11 when they host The University of Northwestern (St. Paul, Minn.) at 5 p.m. in CLC Gymnasium.