ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2019-20 season after dropping a hard-fought 76-74 contest to North Central College.
 
Elmhurst, ranked 12th in the D3hoops.com top-25 poll, dropped to 6-1 overall and 1-1 in the CCIW with the loss. North Central improved to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in league play.
 
The Bluejays started quickly, opening up an 11-3 lead just over 3:30 into the contest. Trailing by eight with 12:24 left in the half, North Central used a 12-3 run to take a 21-20 lead with 8:48 remaining. The Cardinals' lead was short lived as Derek Dotlich drained a three-pointer to put Elmhurst back in front. Dotlich's three-pointer kicked off 16-2 run for Elmhurst as the Bluejays led 36-23 with 3:30 remaining. North Central finished the half on an 8-2 run to cut Elmhurst's lead down to just seven points (38-31) at the half.
 
Elmhurst pushed its lead back up to 12-points early in the second half, but North Cental ripped off a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to pull to within three points at 47-44. Elmhurst pushed its lead back up to seven points with 11:30 remaining, but the Cardinals responded 10-0 run to take a 58-55 lead with nine minutes left. Elmhurst moved back in front at 61-59 with 7:43 remaining, but back-to-back three-pointers from Blaise Meredith put NCC up by four (65-61) with 6:30 left on the clock. The Cardinals would not trail for the remainder of the game.
 
Elmhurst closed the deficit down to two points with 1:15 left to play. After North Central split a pair of free throws, Jake Rhode hit a layup with 12 seconds left to bring Elmhurst to within a point at 75-74. North Central split two free throws with seven seconds remaining, but Rhode's potential game-winning three-pointer rimmed out just before the horn giving North Central the 76-74 win.
 
Elmhurst finished the contest shoot 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the floor but struggled from long distance, hitting just 7-of-30 attempts (23.3 percent) from beyond the arc. The Bluejays hit just 2-of-15 three-point attempts in the second half. North Central shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field, including 34.5 percent from downtown (10-of-29). The Cardinals knocked down 7-of-16 attempts from three-point range in the second half.
 
The Bluejays won the battle inside, outrebounding North Central 46-33 and scoring 20 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds.
 
Four players reached double figures in scoring to lead the Bluejays. Dotlich scored a team-best 18 points while shooting 7-of-13 from the floor. Lavon Thomas added a double-double of 17 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. Rhode finished with 16 points and four assists while Wesley Hooker came off the bench to score 10 for Elmhurst.
 
Matt Cappelletti paced the Cardinals with 18 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the floor. Connor Raridon added 14 points and seven assists while Aiden Chang and Will Clausel scored 11 points apiece for the Cardinals. Aaron Jones scored 10 for the Cardinals.
 
Elmhurst travels to the University of La Verne on December 18.