ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team slipped to 4-3 in the CCIW after suffering a 92-85 loss to Wheaton College at R.A. Faganel Hall.

Elmhurst (9-7 overall) led by five at the half, but Wheaton (12-4, 5-2 CCIW) outscored the Bluejays 58-46 in the second half to earn the seven-point win.
 
Wheaton jumped out to an early lead, building a 23-13 advantage midway through the opening half. Elmhurst roared back, ripping off a 12-0 run over the next 3:30 to take a 25-23 lead. Jeremy Ireland scored seven points to help fuel the Elmhurst run. Wheaton moved back in front by two with six minutes to play, but a bucket from Ireland and a four-point play from Derek Dotlich put Elmhurst up 31-27 with 4:26 remaining. Elmhurst extend its lead to five points (39-34) at the half. Ireland poured in 11 points in the first 20 minutes while Pavlos Marakis collected nine rebounds in the half.
 
Wheaton scored the first five points of the second half to pull even at 39-39. Elmhurst reclaimed the lead at 43-41, but the Thunder scored the next six points to open up a 47-43 lead with 13:55 left on the clock. Wheaton would not trail for the remainder of the game as the team slowly built a double digit lead at 76-65 with 6:18 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers from Dotlich brought the Bluejays to within five points with 3:30 left, but Wheaton managed to build its lead back to nine with just 42 seconds. Elmhurst made one last push, closing to within five points and having the ball with 21 seconds to go, but a jumper was off the mark and Wheaton was able to seal the win from the foul line.
 
Elmhurst struggled with its shooting, hitting just 38.7 percent from the floor (29-of-75). The Bluejays were sharper from the outside, connecting on 12-of-27 attempts from three-point range (44.4 percent). Wheaton outrebounded Elmhurst 47-39 and owned a 38-20 edge in points in the paint. The Thunder finished the game hitting 45.5 percent (30-of-66) from the floor, including 55.9 percent (19-of-34) in the second half.
 
Ireland paced Elmhurst in the loss, finishing with a team-best 22 points. Dotlich added 17 points and seven rebounds, shooting 5-of-10 from three-point range. Jake Rhode added 13 points, eight assists and four steals while Jay Militello added seven points for Elmhurst. Marakis pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Aston Francis paced the Thunder with a game-high double-double of 36 points and 11 rebounds. Francis shot 9-of-23 from the floor and was a perfect 13-of-13 from the foul line. Spencer Peterson added 14 points and eight rebounds while Luke Anthony came off the bench to score 13. Luke Peters chipped in with 12 for Wheaton.
 
 
Elmhurst hosts Illinois Wesleyan University on Wednesday, January 16.