Illinois Wesleyan Box Score
ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College men's basketball team, ranked 17th in the latest D3hoops.com poll, ran its winning streak to six games by scoring a 98-92 win over Illinois Wesleyan University. With the win, Elmhurst (15-4, 6-2 CCIW) moved into sole possession of first place in the CCIW standings by a half a game.
Illinois Wesleyan (11-8, 3-5 CCIW), came racing out of the gate, building a quick 14-point lead just six and a half minutes into the contest. Elmhurst responded with an 18-4 run over the next four minutes to knot the score at 26-all. The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the first half as the first 20 minutes featured six ties and four lead changes. The Titans enjoyed a slight 50-49 lead at halftime.
Trailing 54-53 early in the second half, the Bluejays used an 8-0 run to grab a 61-54 lead with 15:38 remaining. The Titans chipped the lead down to just three points, but a 10-4 Elmhurst run gave the Bluejays a 73-64 lead with 11:38 left to play. Illinois Wesleyan continued to chip away at the Bluejays lead, closing to within three points with 2:43 left on the clock. Four straight points by the Bluejays pushed the lead back to seven with 1:44 left. The Titans continued to battle, closing to within 3-points on a Doug Sexauer lay-up with 43 seconds.
After a Bluejay turnover, Illinois Wesleyan had a chance to even the score but Sean Johnson's 3-pointer bounced off the rim with Brent Ruch grabbing the board for the Bluejays. Elmhurst was able to seal the game from the charity stripe, hitting seven of its final eight free throw attempts.
Illinois Wesleyan outshot Elmhurst 62.1 percent (36-of-58) to 54.4 percent (31-of-57). Elmhurst connected on 58.3 percent of its 3-point attempts, hitting 7-of-12 attempts. The Titans hit 35.0 percent of their 3-point attempts (7-of-20). Elmhurst was solid from the charity stripe, converting 90.6 percent (29-of-32) attempts while Illinois Wesleyan shot 65.0 percent from the foul line (13-of-20).
The Titans won the battle on the glass 28-26, and outscored Elmhurst in the paint 50-40. The Bluejays made the most of IWU's mistakes, converting 14 turnovers into 23 points.
Five Bluejays reached double figures in scoring with Ruch leading the way. The Titans had no answer for Ruch, as he finished with a season-high 31 points on 10-of-13 shooting. He added 11-of-13 from the foul line and recorded a double-double by pulling down 10 rebounds. Ruch's 31 points was one point shy of his career high of 32. Robert Strzemp added 15 points while Ryan Burks scored 13. Chris Childs came off the bench to score 12 points, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts. Matt Bernier came off the bench to score a career-high 10 points.
Sean Johnson led the Titans with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Sexauer finished with 15 points while Travis Rosenkranz added 14. John Koschnitzky and Brett Chamernik scored 11 points apiece in the loss.
Elmhurst hosts nationally-ranked Augustana College on Wednesday, February 4.
