DECATUR, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team opened the CCIW portion of its schedule by surging past Millikin University for a 74-62 win.
 
After holding a narrow two-point lead at the half, Elmhurst (3-3, 1-0 CCIW) outscored Millikin 41-31 in the second half en route to the 12-point win.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair as the score was tied 10 times and the lead changes hands five times. The Bluejays built a four-point cushion (28-24) with two minutes left in the half, only to see Millikin move in front at 31-30 with less than a minute to play. A three-pointer from Jake Rhode with just under 10 seconds left in the half gave the Bluejays a 33-31 lead at halftime.
 
Millikin grabbed a quick four-point lead to start the second half, but Elmhurst answered back quickly, taking a 42-41 lead with 14 minutes remaining on a Jay Milittello jumper. Millikin tied the game on a free throw, but back-to-back three-pointers from Colin Bomstad put the Bluejays in front by six and the squad never trailed the rest of the way. The Bluejays built an 11-point cushion with nine minutes remaining and Millikin came no closer than six points as the Bluejays held on for the 12-point win.
 
Elmhurst finished the contest shooting 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the floor, including 32.1 percent (9-of-28) from three-point distance. Millikin (4-3) turned the ball over 23 times in the contest, resulting in 30 points for the Bluejays. Elmhurst also turned 12 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points and outscored the Big Blue 23-11 on the break.
 
Rhode led Elmhurst in the win, finishing with a game-high 22 points to go with a team-best seven rebounds, four assists and five steals. He shot 7-of-17 from the floor in the victory. Jeremy Ireland finished with 13 points for the Bluejays while Bomstad came off the bench to score all of his points in the second half. Nick Perry and Derek Dotlich scored eight points apiece for the Bluejays in the victory.
 
Elijah Henry paced Millikin with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Davante Harrell scored 11 and Korbin Farmer added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Big Blue.
 
Elmhurst travels to Carthage College on Saturday, December 8.