ELMHURST, Ill. –  The Elmhurst men's basketball team erased a 12-point second-half deficit against Illinois Wesleyan, but the Bluejays could not overcome the Titans in the final minute, falling 82-80 at R.A. Faganel Hall.
 
Elmhurst tied a pair of CCIW single-game free throw records in the loss and slid to 9-8 overall and 4-4 in league play. Illinois Wesleyan upped its record to 11-6 overall and 4-4 in the CCIW with the victory.
 
Illinois Wesleyan led for nearly 19 minutes of the first half, but the Titans were never able to pull away. IWU built a seven-point cushion with 12 minutes to play, but Elmhurst sliced the lead down to one with just past the midway point of the half. A 6-0 run by the Titans reestablished a seven-point cushion (26-19) with 5:50 remaining. The Bluejays pulled to within a point with 29 seconds left after a Jeremy Ireland three-pointer, but a Grant Wolfe layup just before the buzzer gave IWU a 40-37 lead at the half. Derek Dotlich, Jake Rhode and Jeremy Ireland combined to scored 34 of the Bluejays' 37 points in the half.
 
The Bluejays started the second half with a bucket from Rhode and two free throws from Nick Perry to take their first lead of the contest. The two teams traded buckets and leads for the next five minutes before IWU opened up a four-point lead with 14:53 remaining. A three-pointer from Perry brought Elmhurst back to within one, but the Titans answered back with the next seven points, opening up an eight point lead at 60-52 and forcing the Bluejays to burn a timeout. The Titans continued to lengthen their lead, opening up a 12-point cushion with 7:20 remaining. Elmhurst cut the lead down to six with 5:43 left and again at 3:33, but The Titans pushed their lead back to eight with 2:30 remaining.
 
A three-pointer from Dotlich, two free throws from Rhode and a triple from Ireland capped an 8-0 Elmhurst run that brought the Bluejays level at 76-76 with a minute remaining. A Brady Rose jumper with 40 seconds put the Titans back in front. Elmhurst had two chances to tie the game on its next possession, but the Titans grabbed a rebound and Grant Wolfe hit two free throws to put IWU up by four. The two squads traded free throws over the next 12 seconds giving IWU an 82-78 lead with 15 seconds left. Rhode hit two free throws with 9.4 seconds left to cut the Titans lead in half. Elmhurst went for the steal on the inbounds, trapping a Titan player in the corner. An errant pass was saved from going out of bounds by IWU with four seconds, allowing the Titans to run off the remaining time on the clock and come away with the two-point win.
 
Four Bluejays reached double figures in scoring led by Rhode's game-high 28 points. He added six assists while shooting a perfect 15-of-15 from the free throw line. Rhode tied the CCIW single-game free throw percentage record in the process, becoming just the fourth player in league history to shoot at least 15-of-15 from the foul line.  Dotlich finished two rebounds shy of a double-double, pouring in 21 points on an 8-of-12 shooting night while also collecting eight rebounds. Ireland added 15 points and five assists while Nick Perry scored 11 for the Bluejays, hitting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
 
Elmhurst shot 41.4 percent from the floor in the loss, hitting 24-of-58 attempts. The Bluejays shot 12-of-29 from three-point distance (41.4 percent) and also tied the CCIW single-game record for free throw percentage, shooting a perfect 20-of-20 from the foul line. Elmhurst became just the second team in league history to shoot at least 20-of-20 from the charity stripe in a game.
 
Illinois Wesleyan hit 54.4 percent (31-of-57) of its shots, but the Titans won the rebounding battle with a 39-22 advantage. The Titans turned 10 offensive rebounds into 12 second-chance points, outscoring Elmhurst 12-2 in second-chance opportunities. Elmhurst was held to only five offensive boards in the contest.
 
Rose led the Titans with 26 points, hitting 10-of-15 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from downtown. Wolfe came off the bench to score 20, shooting 6-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Wolfe and Charlie Blair pulled down seven rebounds apiece to lead the Titans. Blair added nine points off the bench for IWU.
 
Elmhurst travels to Augustana College next Wednesday, January 23.