WAUKESHA, Wis. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team avenged a Thursday night loss to Carroll University by upending the Pioneers 81-72 in the Bluejays' first road game of the season.
Elmhurst (1-1) led from wire-to-wire in the contest, scoring the opening bucket and never trailing. The Bluejays scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back. Leading by eight with 9:30 left in the opening half, the Bluejays used a 15-0 run to open up a commanding 23-point cushion with just 3:30 left to play. Carroll (2-3) fought their way back into the contest before the end of the half by finishing the final 3:30 with a 9-0 run to cut Elmhurst's lead down to 45-31 at halftime.
Elmhurst hit 51.4 percent (18-of-35) of its shots in the opening half with
Hunter Merritt leading the Bluejays with 12 points off the bench.
The Bluejays held a 14-point cushion with 12 minutes remaining, but Carroll answered back, using a 14-4 run over the next 5:30 of action to slice Elmhurst's lead down to just four points with 6:30 remaining. The Bluejays pushed their lead back up to nine points and Carroll came no closer than a five-point deficit down the stretch as Elmhurst pulled away for the 11-point victory.
The Bluejays finished the contest hitting 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the floor, including 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from three-point range. Elmhurst dominated inside, outscoring Carroll 38-18 in the paint and outrebounding the Pioneers 37-23.
Four players reached double figures in a balanced Elmhurst attack.
Lavon Thomas totaled a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Merritt and
Dominic Genco totaled 12 points apiece while
Bryce Drews came off the bench to score 10 for the Bluejays.
Wesley Hooker,
Jonathan Zapinski and
Ocean Johnson added nine points apiece for the Bluejays. Zapinski and Johnson pulled down seven rebounds each in the win.
Carroll shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field in the loss. The Pioneers hit 35.7 percent (10-of-28) from downtown. Tarren Hall paced Carroll with 22 points in the loss. Tyler Miller added 12 points while Justin Steinike scored nine.
Elmhurst travels to North Park University on Tuesday, February 16.
