ST. PAUL, Minn. – Despite a career-night from Kyle Wuest, the Elmhurst men's basketball team's season came to a close with a 94-81 loss to the University of St. Thomas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Wuest poured in a career-high 33 points and helped the Bluejays overcome an early 13-point first-half deficit and recapture the lead in the second half. The lead changed hands seven times in the second half before St. Thomas (26-3) pulled away over the final eight minutes.

The Tommies built a 13-point cushion early in the first half as the whistle did not go Elmhurst's way. The Bluejays were called for 12 fouls in the first ten minutes of action, compared to just four for St. Thomas. The fouls, helped St. Thomas turn a four-point cushion into a 27-15 lead with 8:39 left to play in the half. The Tommies attempted 14 free throws in the game's first ten minutes of action.  The free throws helped fuel a 22-8 run by the Tommies to put St. Thomas in front 30-17 with 6:30 left.

Elmhurst slowly chipped away at the lead, scoring the next seven points, aided by an ultra-rare five-point play. Wuest drained a three-pointer and Will Nixon was fouled away from the play on the shot. Nixon knocked down both free throws to cap the sequence. Elmhurst trailed by seven following a Peyton Wyatt layup with four minutes remaining. Wuest caught fire over the next three minutes, scoring the next 10 points for the Bluejays, including back-to-back treys to cap an 8-0 run and pull the team even at 39-39 with 1:14 remaining.

Grant Schaeffer hit a layup and knocked down a three-pointer following an offensive foul on the Bluejays to put the Tommies back in front by five with 40 seconds left. After a loose ball foul on the Bluejays, Jimmy Remke split a pair of free throws to give the Tommies a 45-39 lead at the half.

Elmhurst shot 41.9 percent (13-of-31) from the floor, including 5-of-10 from downtown in the opening half. The Bluejays were whistled for 17 fouls in the game's opening 20 minutes, sending St. Thomas to the free throw line 22 times where the Tommies hit 15.  Wuest and Pat Coleman carried the Bluejays' offense in the first half. Coleman totaled eight points early in the half while Wuest took over down the stretch to score 20 in the game's first 20 minutes.

Wuest continued his red-hot shooting at the start of the second half, scoring Elmhurst's first eight points. A Bryant Ackerman three-pointer pulled Elmhurst to within a point with 15:49 left to play.

Wuest put the Bluejays in front at 55-53 by knocking down his fifth three-pointer of the contest with 14:30 remaining. A dunk from Nixon put the Bluejays in front 57-53 with 14 minutes left. The two teams traded leads for the next four minutes until St. Thomas went back in front on a Ryan Saarela bucket with 10:11 left to play. Elmhurst was dealt a blow on the play as Wuest was injured and left the floor for the next five minutes.

The Tommies pushed their lead back to three with 9:30 remaining after a Ryan Boll bucket. Free throws from Bryant Ackerman and a layup from Erik Crittenden put the Bluejays back in front at 68-67 with 8:25 remaining. St. Thomas responded with a 7-0 run capped by a corner try from Boll to surge back in front 74-68. A Peyton Wyatt three-pointer from the corner cut the deficit in half with just over five minutes remaining. Back-to-back buckets from Saarela followed by a deep three-pointer from Cortez Tillman gave St. Thomas its largest lead of the half at 81-71 entering the final media timeout.

Tied at 68-all with eight minutes remaining, the Tommies closed the contest with a 26-13 run to make the final score 94-79. The Bluejays hit just four of their final 12 shots to close out the contest.

Elmhurst finished the contest shooting 45.0 percent from the floor, hitting 27-of-60 shots from the field. The Bluejays were solid from downtown and the charity stripe, hitting 11-of-22 from three-point distance and 16-of-17 from the foul line (94.1 percent).

St. Thomas shot 48.3 percent (29-of-60) in the win, including 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from downtown. The Tommies hit 28-of-37 free throw attempts to shoot 75.7 percent.

Wuest closed out his career with a career-high and game-high 33 points, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from downtown. He was a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line and also led the squad in rebounding with eight. Coleman added 10 points for the Bluejays while Crittenden and Bryant Ackerman scored eight points apiece.

Six players, including all five starters reached double figures for the Tommies. Saarela led the way with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds while Schaeffer shot 8-of-16 from the floor to total 18 points. Tillman added 15 points while Taylor Montero scored 14. Jimmy Remke came off the bench to score 12 while Boll finished with 10.

Elmhurst closed the book on a fantastic season, finishing the year with a 22-7 overall record, matching the school's best-ever single-season win record. The Bluejays also recorded consecutive 20-win seasons and made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first-time in school history.