ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University men's basketball team picked up their first victory over a ranked opponent of the season Wednesday evening, taking down 20th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University by a score of 90-73 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opener.

Elmhurst (5-0, 1-0 CCIW) was fueled by a 61-point second half effort, shooting 58-percent from the field and 54-percent from three in the second half to surge their way to a 17-point conference victory.

Tagen Pearson led all scorers with a season-high 24 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including a 6-8 mark from beyond the arc, also collecting four rebounds and a pair of steals. Jonathan Zapinski neared a double-double with his 16 point, nine rebound, five assist effort, while John Ittounas matched Zapinski in points with 16 and Ocean Johnson knocked down 15 for the Bluejays. Matt Woloch also tallied eight rebounds in the contest.

Illinois Wesleyan (4-3, 0-1 CCIW) took the lead heading into the halftime break, but shot just 48-percent in the second half, including 27-percent from long range, being unable to keep up with the offensive surge from the Bluejays.

The Titans found double-digit scoring efforts from three players, with Luke Yoder scoring a team-high 17 points while Nick Roper and Ryan Skroka tallied 15 and 12 points, respectively. 

Both squads battled throughout the first period, trading the lead multiple times with the Titans having the largest lead of the first half (six) at the 13:14 mark. In the end, IWU found themselves with a two-point advantage over the home team heading into the break.

At the 17:51 mark in the second period, a trey from Zapinski put the Bluejays ahead of the Titans by two early. This lead would grow to as high as eight at the 9:27 mark, but a Titan three-pointer brought the score within one with 7:30 to go. The Bluejays responded with a huge 23-6 scoring run to put Elmhurst up 17 with two minutes to go, a lead which the Bluejays held until the final buzzer.

UP NEXT

The Bluejays will head to Chicago this Saturday, Dec. 2 to take on North Park in a CCIW clash set for a 4:15 p.m. CT tip-off.

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