BELTON, Texas – The Elmhurst men's basketball team upped its record to 5-7 on the season with a 71-64 win over Sul-Ross State University at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Tournament.

Fresh off his 38-point performance a night earlier, Jake Rhode dumped in 19 points and the Elmhurst bench contributed 36 points to help lead the Bluejays to the victory.
 
The two squads traded buckets and leads for the early part of the first half before Elmhurst grabbed control, taking a 22-19 lead after a Ryan Patton three-pointer with six minutes remaining. Elmhurst never relinquished the lead despite Sul-Ross State closing to within one (26-25) at the half.

The Bluejays started the second half with an 11-3 run to build a nine-point cushion after a jumper from Patton. Elmhurst pushed its lead up to 12 points with nine minutes remaining. Sul-Ross State used an 8-0 run to pull to within four remaining. Sul-Ross whittled the lead down to three with 3:50 left, but the Bluejays answered back with six straight points to push their lead back to nine with just over 30 seconds remaining to help put the game away.
 
Elmhurst shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the floor, including 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from three-point distance. The Bluejays were strong on the glass, outrebounding Sul-Ross 42-32. Rhode led the way for Elmhurst, finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists. Patton came off the bench to score 16, hitting 4-of-8 from three-point range. Jalen Loving added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds while Nathan Rogers tallied 10 points and five assists for Elmhurst.
 
Sul-Ross State (7-6) shot 41.5 percent from the floor, but just 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from beyond the arc. Caleb Thomasson led the way with 20 points in the loss while Brock Anders scored 15 and C.J. Ross finished with 10.
 
Elmhurst resumes CCIW play on January 7, by traveling to Carthage College.