ELMHURST, Ill. – Four players reached double figures in scoring to lead the Elmhurst men's basketball team to a 74-67 win over Millikin University at R.A. Faganel Hall.
 
Elmhurst led from wire-to-wire, scoring the game's opening basket and never trailing, but Millikin battled back multiple times to keep the game close to the very end. The win snapped a five-game slide for the Bluejays as Elmhurst upped its record to 10-9 overall and 5-5 in the CCIW.
 
Elmhurst never trailed in the opening half. Leading by one eight minutes into the half, the Bluejays rattled off a 9-0 run keyed by four points from Jake Rhode to open up a 24-14 lead. Millikin pulled to within four points with two minutes left in the half, but the Bluejays led by five (35-30) at the half.
 
Millikin stayed right with Elmhurst at the start of the second half. The Big Blue cut the Bluejays' lead down to two on two occasions and pulled to within a point at 44-43 with 13:21 left to play. Elmhurst pushed its lead up to 10 points with 9:38 left, but Millikin rattled off an 8-0 run to close to within two points with 7:30 left to play. Five straight points from Nik Balkcom pushed the Bluejays' lead back to seven. Elmhurst extended its lead back to 10 with 3:20 remaining following a Pavlos Marakis bucket, but Millikin made one last run, closing to within four points with 42 seconds left to play.
 
A three-point play from Derek Dotlich and a pair of Nick Perry Free throws helped seal the win for the Bluejays.
 
The two squads were evenly matched in their shooting as Elmhurst hit 48.3 percent (28-of-58) of its shots while Millikin connected on 48.1 percent (26-of-54) of its attempts. The Bluejays knocked down 8-of-24 attempts (33.3 percent) from downtown while Millikin connected on 7-of-18 (38.9 percent) from beyond the arc. Millikin won the rebounding battle, pulling down 37 rebounds to Elmhurst's 25. The Big Blue struggled to protect the ball, turning it over 20 times resulting in 22 points for the Bluejays. Elmhurst held a 22-10 edge in points off of turnovers.
 
Ryan Patton gave the Bluejays a spark off the bench, connecting on 5-of-9 shots, including 4-of-8 from downtown to finish with a team-leading 14 points. Jake Rhode added 13 points, five assists and three steals while Jeremy Ireland finished one rebound shy of a double-double, totaling 12 points and nine rebounds. Dotlich added 10 points while Balkcom scored seven. Perry finished with six points, eight assists and four steals.
 
Elijah Henry paced the Big Blue, scoring a game-high 19 points while shooting 7-of-11 from the floor. Calvin Fisher added 12 points while Jack Marinko finished with 11 for Millikin.
 
Elmhurst hosts Carthage College on Wednesday, January 30.