CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio-- North Central Men's Basketball ran into a tough task on Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the National Christian College Athletic Association National Championship Tournament. The athletic and talented Arlington Baptist College Patriots came in as the second seed in the tournament and proved they were worthy of the spot in an 89-72 win over the Rams.

One night after the Rams scorched the nets and dominated the glass in their opening round win in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Tournament they fell victim to a dose of that same medicine. Arlington Baptist College (Arlington, Texas) earned the second seed in this season's tournament one year after finishing as national runners up. They built a double-figure lead early in the game and North Central struggled to get back in the contest.

The Rams allowed the Patriots to shoot .548 in the first 20 minutes which earned the Patriots a 42-32 lead at halftime. Out of the locker room, ABC extended their lead to as much as 16 before the Rams scored. Eventually the Rams would trail by as many as 21 in the game before cutting the lead to 11, the last time with around five minutes remaining.

After a stop on the defensive end, NCU got a good look under the hoop with 5:30 left but missed the shot. The Rams forced a tough shot on the other end but allowed ABC one of their 14 offensive rebounds which led to a three pointer that essentially sealed the victory.

On the day Arlington shot .500 from the floor and out rebounded NCU 40-20. Sophomore Luke Chafin (Dayton, Ohio/Troy Christian) continued his fantastic NCCAA Tournament thus far with 24 points and 4 assists one night after notching 27 points. Junior Josh High (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) also continued his streak of hot shooting from beyond the three point arch with five more made from down town to finish with 16 points. Junior Jordan Harrell (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) added 11 points on the day.

The Rams will now move over to the consolation bracket where they have a shot to wrap up the national tournament with a fifth place finish. The Rams will take on the loser of third seed Lancaster Bible College (Lancaster, Pa.) and sixth seed Grace University (Omaha, Neb.) at 12:30 p.m. CST on Friday afternoon. With a win they would play in the fifth place game at Noon CST on Saturday.