Box Score Box Score

DUBUQUE, Iowa - The Elmhurst men's basketball team dropped its 2011-12 season opener by falling to the University of Dubuque 77-63.

Dubuque (1-0) scored the opening basket and never looked back as the Spartans never trailed in the game. Dubuque built a 13-8 lead with 12 minutes to play in the first half and proceeded to outscore Elmhurst (0-1) 31-14 for the rest of the half to build a 44-22 lead at the half.

Elmhurst slowly chipped away at the Spartans' lead in the second half, pulling to within nine points at 65-57 with 5:39 left on the clock. Dubuque pushed its lead back to double digits and held off the Bluejays for the 77-63 victory.

Elmhurst finished the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-of-63) from the floor, but struggled in the opening half, hitting just 33.3 percent (10-of-30). The Bluejays struggled from long range, hitting just 2-of-7 attempts from downtown (28.6 percent).  Dubuque shot 57.7 percent (15-of-26) in the opening half and ended the contest shooting 47.8 percent (22-of-46) from the floor.

Elmhurst was whistled for 27 fouls, resulting in 36 free throw attempts for the Spartans. Dubuque shot 83.3 percent from the charity stripe (30-of-36) while Elmhurst attempted just 14 free throws in the game, making nine of them.

Jerome Robinson made his Elmhurst debut and scored a game-high 22 points (10-of-17 shooting) before fouling out. He also pulled down six rebounds in the loss. Zack Boyd added 12 points and five rebounds while Nick Sanford scored nine points and totaled six boards. Mike McCurdy added eight points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

Four Spartans reached double figures in scoring led by Mitch Michaelis' 20 points. Michaelis shot 5-of-12 from the floor and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the foul line. Lee Piccinelli added 18 points (10 from the foul line) and David Kushnir scored 13 (seven free throws). Derek Griffin added nine points for Dubuque.

Elmhurst plays its home-opener on Saturday (November 19) against Cornell College.