CHICAGO, Ill. - The Elmhurst University men's basketball team maintained their perfect record with a 74-69 victory at defending league champions North Park University Saturday evening.

Elmhurst (6-0, 2-0 CCIW) continued to show their offensive prowess against the Vikings (2-5, 0-2 CCIW), putting up matching totals of 37 points in each half to seize the victory. 

Despite a slow shooting night from three for Elmhurst, John Ittounas managed to put up 21 points and eight rebounds, including a seven-for-eight line from the free-throw stripe. Tagen Pearson and Jonathan Zapinski joined Ittounas in double-digit scoring, with each contributing 12 in the game. Ocean Johnson led Elmhurst with nine rebounds on the night, while Zapinski added a trio of blocks.

North Park found 20 points from Kolden Vanlandingham, but were unable to overcome a slow first-half shooting.

The Bluejays jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, behind quick buckets from Ittounas and Quinn Pemberton, but the Vikings fought back to tie the game at 16 and take a two-point lead seconds after. The Bluejays regained the lead and increased their margin to six with less than two minutes to go in the opening half thanks to a pair of buckets from Pearson, and Johnson would extend the lead to ten at the break with Elmhurst leading 37-27 heading into intermission.

The Bluejays would maintain a ten-point lead throughout the opening minutes of the second period, extending their lead as high as 19 with 9:34 after a layup from Kyran Mitchell. The Vikings would cut the lead to five in the final minute of the game, but ran out of time and allowed the Bluejays to remain as the only unbeaten CCIW team in the 2023-24 season.

UP NEXT

The Bluejays will dip back into non-conference action next Wednesday, Dec. 6 with a matchup against Marian University beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT inside R.A. Faganel Hall.

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