ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team led for over 35 minutes of action, but the Bluejays could not hold off a late rally from ninth-ranked Augustana College, falling to the Vikings 79-77.
 
Elmhurst closed out the season with a 13-12 overall record and a 6-10 mark in the CCIW. With the win, coupled with a loss by Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana clinched a share of the CCIW title, finishing the regular season with a 12-4 league mark and 20-5 overall record.

Augustana scored the game's opening bucket, but the Bluejays quickly took over. Leading 7-5, Elmhurst rattled off the next 11 points, including three straight three pointers from Ryan Patton. Elmhurst led by as many as 15 in the opening half and led by 11 with 6:30 left in the half before the Vikings mounted a comeback.  Augustana closed to within two points with just over three minutes remaining, but Elmhurst closed the half on a 9-3 run to carry a 41-33 lead into halftime.
 
Elmhurst pushed their lead back up to 15 points in the second half, but Augustana surged back one more time. Elmhurst led 63-48 with 11:30 left to play, but the Vikings used a 19-5 run over the next 6:30 to pull to within one with just five minutes remaining.  Elmhurst pushed its lead back to three points on a jumper from Patton, but a 9-1 run from Augustana put the Vikings in front 76-71 with 2:45 left to play.
 
A Justin Fox put back cut the Vikings' lead down to three points with 2:29 left. After a Vikings' miss, Jeremy Ireland hit a pair of free throws to pull Elmhurst to within one with 1:36 left. Elmhurst came up with a rebound after an Augustana miss and Patton knocked down a jumper with 41 seconds left to give Elmhurst a 77-76 lead. The Vikings quickly went back in front as Joe Kellen converted a three-point play with just over 30 seconds left to put the Vikings up 79-77. With time winding down on the shot clock, the Bluejays' three-point attempt came up short, giving the ball back to Augustana. The Vikings were able to run out the clock and come away with the two-point win.
 
The tightly-called contest featured a combined 55 fouls and 59 free throw attempts. The Bluejays were whistled for 32 fouls sending Augustana to the line 33 times while the Vikings were called for 23 fouls giving Elmhurst 26 free thow attempts.
 
Elmhurst shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) from the floor, including 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from three-point distance. The Bluejays were solid from the free throw line, converting 22-of-26 attempts.
 
Patton and Brandon Auker turned in career-best performances to pace Elmhurst in the loss. Patton pumped in a career and game-high 30 points while shooting 11-of-19 from the floor, including 6-of-9 from three-point distance. Playing his final collegiate game, Auker scored a career-best 20 points, shooting 4-of-8 from the field and 10-of-12 from the foul line Jeremy Ireland added 12 points for Elmhurst while Pavlos Marakis led the team in rebounding with eight.
 
After shooting just 36.4 percent from the field (8-of-22) in the opening half, the Vikings hit 16-of-26 attempts (61.5 percent) in the second to finish the contest shooting an even 50.0 percent (24-of-48). Augustana hit 7-of-15 from beyond the arc and 24-of-33 (72.7 percent) from the foul line. Brett Benning paced the Vikings in the win with 24 points. Chrishawn Orange added 18 points and Dylan Sortillo scored 17 for the Vikings.