ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team slipped to 7-8 in CCIW play following a 72-59 loss to Carroll University at R.A. Faganel Hall.

Elmhurst (12-12) led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but Carroll (11-13, 7-8 CCIW) surged back in the second half, outscoring Elmhurst 44-26 in the second half.
 
Elmhurst and Carroll traded buckets in the early going before the Bluejays rattled of a 10-0 run to open up a 14-7 lead just seven minutes into the game. The Bluejays' extended their lead up to 10 points after Derek Dotlich connected on his third three-pointer of the half with eight minutes left. The Bluejays led by as many as 12 points in the half (31-19) after a Jake Rhode three-pointer with four minutes remaining. Carroll closed the half with a flurry, finishing the final four minutes on a 9-2 run to pull to within five points (33-28) at the break. Dotlich led the Bluejays in the opening half with 11 points.
 
Carroll scored the first give points of the second half to pull even at 33-33. The two teams proceeded to trade buckets and leads over the next six minutes with the lead changing hands eight times. Carroll used an 8-0 run keyed by back-to-back three-pointers from Nick Penny to open up a 49-43 lead with 9:13 remaining, forcing Elmhurst to burn a timeout. The Pioneers pushed their lead up to points at 56-46 with seven minutes remaining. Carroll led by seven with just over three minutes and used a five-point possession to take its largest lead of the game at 12. Anthony Marlowe hit the front end of a one-and-one and the Pioneers grabbed an offensive rebound on the second missed attempt. Blake Williams knocked down a corner three-pointer and was fouled, converting the four-point play and putting Carroll up 64-52 with 3:05 left to play. Elmhurst came no closer than a 10-point deficit the rest of the way as Carroll pulled away for the 13-point win.
 
Elmhurst shot 41.2 percent for the game, hitting 21-of-51 shots. The Bluejays struggled in the second half, hitting just 8-of22 attempts (36.4 percent). Carroll finished the game shooting 51.0 percent (25-of-49) from the floor, including 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) in the second half, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
 
Dotlich led Elmhurst with 14 points in the loss, connecting on 4-of-6 shots from three-point range. He added a team-leading eight rebounds. Jeremy Ireland finished with 12 points and six boards while Jake Rhode scored 10 for Elmhurst. Nik Balkcom came off the bench to finish with nine.
 
Blake Williams paced Carroll in the win, coming off the bench to score 20 points. Williams shot 5-of-7 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the foul line. Penny added 12 points while Ryan Clarey scored eight for the Pioneers.
 
Elmhurst closes out its regular season by hosting North Central College on Saturday, February 16.