ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, falling 94-86 to Benedictine University after the Bluejays' furious second-half rally came up short.
Benedictine (3-0) came out strong, scoring the game's first eight points and racing out to a quick 28-8 lead 12 minutes into the contest as Elmhurst struggled to get rolling. The Eagles closed the half on a 19-9 run to take a commanding 47-19 lead at the half.
Benedictine shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the opening half and was on fire from downtown, hitting 9-of-13 from three-point range (69.2 percent). Meanwhile, Elmhurst struggled in the game's first 20 minutes shooting only 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from the floor and missing all nine of its three-point attempts.
Elmhurst cut into the Eagles' lead early in the second half, but Benedictine maintained a 20-point lead for the majority of the half. The Eagles led 79-57 with 5:23 remaining following an Adam Reynolds lay-up.
The Bluejays responded with a 17-5 run over the next 3:40 to cut the Eagles' lead down to 10 points with 1:40 remaining. Elmhurst kept charging as
Peyton Wyatt buried a three-pointer to bring the Bluejays' to within seven points. After the Eagles pushed their lead back to eight points,
Kyle Wuest knocked down a pull-up three-pointer to slice the deficit to five points at 87-82 with 40 seconds remaining. The Bluejays came as close as four points after a pair of
Pat Coleman free throws with 17 seconds remaining, but the Eagles hit their last six free throws to put the game away.
After being held to just two points in the opening half, Wuest exploded in the second, scoring 21 of his game-high 23 points in the game's final 20 minutes. He shot 9-of-18 from the floor in the loss.
Erik Crittenden added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while
Pat Coleman finished with 15 points, all coming in the second half.
Jalen Loving came off the bench to finish with 10 points and five rebounds. Wyatt added nine points for the Bluejays in the loss.
Elmhurst finished the game shooting 42.1 percent (32-of-76) from the field, including 50.0 percent (24-of-48) in the second half. The Bluejays hit just 5-of-22 three-point attempts (22.7 percent) and 17-of-25 from the foul line (68.0 percent).
Benedictine finished the contest shooting 48.4 percent (30-of-62), including 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from downtown. All five starters reached double figures for the Eagles. Tahron Harvey led the way with 22 points and six rebounds. John Dodson, Michael Blaszczyk and Reynolds all totaled 16 points in the victory. Lucas Johnson finished with 14 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
Elmhurst will look to get back on track on Sunday, November 29, when the team welcomes Alma College to R.A. Faganel Hall for a 3:00 p.m. contest.
