CHICAGO, Ill. - The Elmhurst University men's basketball team outscored the Illinois Institute of Technology 40-20 in the second half on route to a convincing 71-44 road victory.

Elmhurst, ranked 10th in the D3hoops.com poll, improved to 3-0 on the season while IIT slipped to 1-3 overall.

Elmhurst overcame a sluggish shooting night in the opening half. The Bluejays hit only 9-of-32 attempts (28.1 percent) from the floor, including 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from downtown, in the game's opening 20 minutes. Despite the cold shooting start, the Bluejays closed the final four minutes of the half with a 7-2 run to build a 31-24 lead at the half. 

Elmhurst quickly pushed its lead to double digits in the second half before back-to-back 3-pointers pulled IIT to within four with 15 minutes remaining. Elmhurst answered back with a 9-1 run over the next 3:30 to open up a 12-point cushion. Elmhurst led 49-38 with eight minutes remaining and closed the contest on a 22-6 run to pull away for the 27-point win. 

Elmhurst shot 47.1 percent (16-of-34) in the second half, including 50.0 percent (5-of-10) from downtown. The squad finished the contest hitting 25-of-66 attempts (37.9 percent) and 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from long distance. Elmhurst controlled the action inside, outscoring IIT 28-12 in the paint and outrebounding the Scarlet Hawks 50-33. The Bluejays turned 19 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points. 

Lavon Thomas poured in 14 points and totaled seven rebounds to pace the Bluejays in the win. Wesley Hooker added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Dominic Genco finished with 13 points. Hunter Merritt came off the bench to score nine. Ocean Johnson added seven pints while Jay Militello and Bryce Drews tallied six points apiece.

IIT shot just 28.9 percent from the floor (13-of-45), including 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point distance. Caden Gigstad came off the bench to score 10 points to pace the Scarlet Hawks. Milos Dugalic added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds for IIT. 

Elmhurst travels to St. Norbert College on Saturday, November 20.