The Elmhurst University men's basketball team picked up their first CCIW victory of the season, downing the No. 11 Wheaton Thunder 79-75 in overtime Saturday evening inside King Arena.
After being down by as many as 10 points in the second half, Elmhurst (7-2, 1-2 CCIW) rallied back and used a last second three-pointer from John Ittounas to force the first overtime of the season for the Bluejays. Junior Tagen Pearson proceeded to take over in the extra period, scoring five of the Bluejays' 13 points to pull away for their first conference and ranked win of the season.
Ittounas led all scorers with a career-high 30 points on 13-for-20 shooting from the field, while Pearson added 18 points for the Bluejays. Jonathan Zapinski added 13 rebounds and five blocks for Elmhurst, while Wesley Hooker added 12 points. Wheaton (7-2, 1-1 CCIW) was led by 20 points and five assists from Tyson Cruickshank and 18 points from TJ Askew.
The Bluejays were in control for the majority of the first half, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead to start and a 15-5 lead seven minutes into the game. An 8-3 run by the Thunder tightened the Bluejay lead to just three before both teams went on a nearly five-minute scoring drought before an Ittounas trey moved the Elmhurst lead back to six. A Thunder layup tied the game at 23 with 2:20 to go in the first period, and after trading points to end the half the Bluejays headed into the locker room with a 29-28 halftime lead on the road.
A back and forth start to the second half saw the score knotted at 33 with 18 to go, but the Thunder started to take the game over thanks to a 12-3 run to open a ten point lead with ten to go in the second half. The Bluejays responded quickly, scoring an 11-2 run behind a pair of jumpers from Ittounas to again knot the game at 54 with 6:46 to go. A trey from Ocean Johnson put the Bluejays up by three before the Thunder again took the lead from an Askew jumper.
Hooker then knocked down a jumper and an Ittounas fast break steal and layup put the Bluejays up a pair with 1:21 to go in regulation. Zapinski then committed a foul which led to a pair of free throws from Askew, putting the Thunder up by three with just five seconds to go. Coming out of the timeout needing three to send the game into an extra period, Ittounas grabbed the inbound and banked in a three-pointer with just one second on the clock to send the game into overtime knotted at 66.
The two teams began the extra period trading the lead twice before a trey from the Thunder's Eddie Scott tied the game up at 75 with 1:19 to go in the first overtime period. Coming out of a Wheaton timeout, Ittounas knocked down a jumper to put the Bluejays up two, and a defensive stop followed by a Hooker layup put the Bluejays up four with 19 seconds to go. The defense held strong for Elmhurst to close the game, with the Thunder missing a trio of three-point attempts to give the Bluejays a 79-75 overtime victory on the road.
UP NEXT
The Bluejays will be back in action one week from today, taking on North Central next Saturday, Dec. 17 at 4:15 p.m. inside R.A. Faganel Hall.
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