SPOKANE, Wash. - The No. 15 Elmhurst University men's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season, 71-74, Saturday evening to Whitworth University.

Elmhurst (11-1, 3-0 CCIW) was unable to pull away from the Pirates (6-5, 2-0 NWC), who kept the pressure on the Bluejays throughout the game. In the late stages of the non-conference finale for Elmhurst, the Bluejays allowed Whitworth to score the final eight points to ultimately seal the fate for Elmhurst's first loss of the season.

John Ittounas led a trio of Bluejays in scoring, pouring in 25 points and five rebounds, while Tagen Pearson and Ocean Johnson tallied 15 and 14 points each. Dominic Trelenberg was Elmhurst's leading rebounder with seven, while Jonathan Zapinski had four assists.

Whitworth was led by a 30 point performance from Jake Holtz, while Jojo Anderson tallied 20 points for the hosts.

A tight matchup throughout, the teams traded the lead 19 different times and saw the score even eight times in the matchup, but the downfall for the Bluejays were 14 missed free throws (ten in the second half) and allowing the Pirates 16 points off of nine Bluejay turnovers. Whitworth also scored 44 points in the paint as opposed to Elmhurst's 26.

UP NEXT

With non-conference action over, the Bluejays will begin the bulk of their CCIW schedule with a matchup at Millikin University next Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 7:00 p.m. CT. 

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