BLOOMINGTON, Ill.- The Elmhurst University men's basketball team knocked off Illinois Wesleyan 74-64 Wednesday evening inside the Shirk Center.

In a game that saw the score tied eight times and the lead change hands 20 different times, Elmhurst (14-6, 6-5 CCIW) used a 15-3 run with under five minutes to go to run past the home team and move ahead of the Titans in the league standings. 

John Ittounas again paced the Bluejay offense, tallying 16 points, while Ocean Johnson followed closely behind with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. Jonathan Zapinski secured an 11 point, 10 rebound double-double on the evening, while Wesley Hooker scored 10 for Elmhurst. 

Illinois Wesleyan (10-10, 5-6 CCIW) was led by Lucas Heflen's game-high 20 points, while Cody Mitchel tallied 16 points and eight rebounds for the Titans.

A true back-and-forth affair in the first-half, the Titans jumped out to an early 9-2 lead before a 10-2 run put the Bluejays ahead one on a Johnson trey. Elmhurst's lead extended to three before the Titans again knotted the score, with the first half seeing eight different lead changes in the final ten minutes of the half, with an Ittounas jumper putting the Bluejays ahead by one at the intermission.

The lead changed another seven times in the first ten minutes of the second period, with the two teams trading baskets one after one. After a pair of Ittounas free throws knotted the game at 54, a three-pointer from Hakim Williams put the Titans ahead 57-54 with 5:40 to go in the game.

The Bluejays used another free throw from Ittounas and a jumper from Neshat Dalipi to tie the game at 57 with 4:49 to go. The Bluejays proceeded to find their rythym behind the arc, using a four-point play from Tagen Pearson and two treys from Zapinski and Johnson to open a 67-57 lead with 2:43 to go. Elmhurst continued to keep the pressure on the defensive end, holding the Titans to just seven points in the final 5:40 of the game and ultimately ending on a 17-7 run to pull off the ten-point CCIW victory in enemy territory.

UP NEXT

Elmhurst will take the weekend off before entering the home stretch of the conference season next Wednesday, Feb. 2 when the team travels to Bloomington, Ill. for a key conference matchup with Illinois Wesleyan. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT.

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