Dupage Policy Journal

The Elmhurst University men's basketball team fell in the regular-season finale against No. 7 Wheaton, 70-77, Saturday evening inside R.A. Faganel Hall.

The Bluejays overcame a ten-point halftime deficit with a late run to keep on pace with the Thunder, but ultimatley fell after Wheaton hit a pair of treys with no answer from Elmhurst to pull away with the seven-point win.

Elmhurst (16-9, 8-8 CCIW) had even scoring on the evening, with five Bluejays scoring in double figures. Ocean Johnson led the way with 16 points, with John Ittounas close behind tallying 13 points on the evening. Jonathan Zapinski recorded another double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds while also adding three blocks on the evening. Wesley Hooker tallied 11 points, while Tagen Pearson notched 10 points on the evening with seven coming from the free-throw line.

Wheaton (22-3, 14-2 CCIW) clinched the outright CCIW regular season championship with the victory, and the right to host the CCIW Tournament next weekend. TJ Askew led the way with 28 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field and five treys, while Tyson Cruickshank tallied 14 points for the Thunder. Nic Schiavello scored 12 points, Andrew Williams added 11, while Eli Considine notched ten points for the visitors.

The Bluejays dominated the battle in the paint during the game, outscoring the Thunder 38 to 18 in the colored area, but the Thunder's red-hot shooting from behind-the-arc (11-for-25) compared to Elmhurst's 6-for-21 line was ultimately the difference late in the contest. 

Wheaton controlled the game early, jumping out to a 15-6 lead just five minutes into the contest. A quick 9-0 run from Elmhurst evened the game at 15 and the two teams battled back-and-forth to keep the game within a possession. An untimely scoring drought that spanned nearly eight minutes for Elmhurst and a ten-point burst from the Thunder widened the visitors' lead to ten, where the deficit would ultimately end up being after a half of play.

The Thunder picked up where they left off in the first half, widening their lead to 16 thanks to a 8-2 opening run, but Elmhurst was not going to roll over easy. The Bluejays continued to chip away the deficit, outscoring Wheaton 26-10 over ten minutes of play to knot the game at 55 with 5:26 to go. Each team began trading punches, with Wheaton knocking down a pair of treys and Elmhurst knocking down free throws to keep the game within three for the home team with 2:25 to go. 

A pair of treys and free throws from Wheaton moved their lead to six with just 1:03 left in the game, and the Bluejays ultimately settled for baskets under the hoop, missing a trio of shot attempts from behind the arc in the closing minute and ultimately falling by seven to the top-ranked team in the CCIW. 

Original source can be found here.