North Central Box Score
ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College men's basketball team, ranked 19th in the latest D3hoops.com poll, outscored North Central College 25-10 over the final 7:25 of the contest to score a 72-66 victory.
After leading 33-32 at the half, Elmhurst (12-4, 3-2 CCIW) was trailing 56-47 with 7:25 to play. After chipping the lead down to six points with 6:33 to go, Ryan Burks buried a 3-pointer to cut the lead in half. After a North Central miss, Chris Childs connected on a jumper to cut the Cardinals' down to just one. A pair of free throws from Mitch Raridon gave the Cardinals a 3-point edge with 4:44 left, but Dustin Bainter evened the score by splashing home a trey with 4:19 to play.
The two teams traded baskets and free throws over the next two minutes and the score remained even at 63-all with less than two minutes to play. Burks put Elmhurst back on top with 1:31 left after he was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws. After North Central's David Twyman hit the first of two free throws to cut Elmhurst's lead down to just two points. Twyman's second free throw was no good, but Matt Rogers collected the rebound for the Cardinals and found a wide open Dean Prince for a lay-up to knot the score at 66-all with 1:10 left.
Brent Ruch was fouled with 51 seconds to go and hit both free throws to give the Bluejays a 68-66 lead. After a North Central miss, Ryan Burks hit two more free throws to push Elmhurst's lead to 70-66 with 20 seconds left. A turnover by the Cardinals led to two free throws from Childs to seal the win for Elmhurst.
The Bluejays shot 54.5 percent (24-of-44) from the floor, including 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from downtown. Elmhurst hit 19-of-21 free throw attempts (90.5 percent). The Cardinals shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field, including 37.5 percent (3-of-8) from beyond the arc. The Cardinals struggled from the line, hitting just 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) free throw attempts.
Elmhurst outrebounded North Central 29-23. Elmhurst made the most of North Central's mistakes, converting 11 turnovers into 20 points. North Central managed just 13 points of 18 Elmhurst turnovers.
Burks led the Bluejays with 16 points. After being held to only three points at the half, Ruch scored 12 in the second half to finish with 15 points. Bainter added 12 points and six rebounds, while Childs totaled 10 points and seven assists.
North Central was led by Twyman's 20 points. Raridon added 11 points while Prince and Rogers scored nine apiece.
Elmhurst travels to Wheaton College on Saturday, January 24.
