Men’s Basketball: NCC’s Raridon named conference MVP
FROM STAFF REPORTS February 25, 2013 5:38PM
North Central's Derek Raridon connects on a jump shot against Wheaton College in January. The senior from Neuqua Valley was named conference MVP on Monday. | Terence Guider-Shaw~For Sun-Times Media
Updated: March 28, 2013 6:20AM
The North Central College men’s basketball team has been rewarded for its success within the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin with four selections to 2012-2013 All-CCIW teams, as well as the conference’s highest individual honor.
Cardinal senior forward Derek Raridon, a Neuqua Valley graduate, has been voted the CCIW’s Fred Young Most Outstanding Player and is a unanimous selection to the All-CCIW first team. Joining Raridon on the first team once again is junior forward Landon Gamble (Lockport Township), while junior guard Vince Kmiec (Sandburg) and senior forward Aaron Tiknis (Grand River Academy) are on the third team.
Raridon joins Robert Brown (1990) and Alonzo Alexander (1993) as North Central’s only recipients of the CCIW’s Most Outstanding Player Award. He joins Bill Warden (1955) as the Cardinals’ only four-time All-CCIW selections, having earned second team honors in 2010 and 2011 before being named to the first team each of the past two years.
Raridon has averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 52.0 percent from the floor. He ranks fourth in the CCIW in scoring, third in three-point percentage (47.9) and fifth in free-throw percentage (77.4), and has led the Cardinals to two CCIW Championships and two CCIW Tournament titles in his career. He ranks third all-time at North Central in career scoring (1,637), second in assists (236), free throws made (438) and free throws attempted (543) and sixth in three-pointers made (121).
Gamble is now a three-time All-CCIW pick, earning first team accolades each time. He is the CCIW’s leader in field-goal percentage (.586) while ranking fifth in scoring (14.4 ppg) and 11th in rebounding (5.9 rpg). He scored 15.9 ppg while shooting 61.6 percent from the floor in conference play and now ranks 17th in school history in career scoring (1,153).
Kmiec, a first-time All-CCIW selection, is scoring 10.9 points per game and has made a team-high 46 three-point field goals while ranking second in the conference in steals (2.1 per game). He is two steals shy of tying the Cardinals’ single-season record of 59 and ranks second in school history in career steals with 108. His 105 career three-pointers rank him ninth at North Central.
Tiknis, also a third team All-CCIW honoree last season, is averaging 9.8 points and team highs of 6.6 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. He set a new North Central single-game record for blocked shots (6) against Kalamazoo College earlier this season and ranks second in school history in career blocked shots (67) and eighth in assists (200).
