ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball stumbled in the second half, falling to 18th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University 93-76 at R.A. Faganel Hall.
 
Elmhurst slipped to 11-7 overall and 4-5 in the CCIW with the loss while Illinois Wesleyan upped its record to 15-3 overall and 8-1 in league play.
 
Illinois Wesleyan build an early 24-13 lead with seven minutes left in the opening half. Elmhurst roared back with a 15-2 run over the next the 3:30 to surge in front 28-26. The Bluejays led by as many as seven points in the half and carried a 40-36 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Elmhurst started quickly in the second half, pushing its lead up to eight points early, but the Titans responded with an 18-0 run to take a 10-point lead with 14 minutes remaining. Elmhurst cut the deficit down to seven points with 12:43 remaining only to see the Titans use a 21-9 run over the next five minutes to extend their lead to 19 points. The Bluejays trimmed the deficit down to nine points with four minutes remaining but came no closer as the Titans pulled away for the 17-point win.
 
Elmhurst shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the field in the loss. The Bluejays were red hot in the first half, shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26) but cooled off in the second, shooting just 34.4 percent (11-of-32). Elmhurst hit 32.0 percent (8-of-25) of its three-point attempts.
 
Derek Dotlich came off the bench to lead the Bluejays with 18 points, shooting 6-of-10 from the floor. Jeremy Ireland totaled a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds while Jake Rhode finished with nine points and 10 assists. Lance Gardner added nine points for the Bluejays.
 
Illinois Wesleyan finished the game shooting 51.9 percent (27-of-52) form the floor and were red-hot from three-point range. The Titans connected on 12-of-25 three-point attempts to shoot 48.0 percent for the game. IWU finished 7-of-12 from long distance (58.3 percent) in the second half.
 
Five players reached double figures in scoring to pace the Titans. Brady Rose scored a game-high 20 points, shooting 6-of-15 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the foul line. Rose added a game-high seven assists in the win. Zach Knobloch connected on 6-of-8 three-point attempts to total 19 points while Jason Gregoire added 17 points. Jaylen Beasley totaled a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds while Alex O'Neill scored 10.
 
The tightly called contest featured a combined 53 fouls and 56 free throw attempts. Elmhurst hit 16-of-21 from the foul line while the Titans converted 27-of-35 (77.1 percent) free throw attempts.
 
Elmhurst travels to North Central College on Saturday, January 27.