The first half belonged to the Bluejays, with Elmhurst jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead. Kent Raymond kept the Thunder close, hitting three straight 3-pointers, accounting for the first nine points. With the Bluejays leading 10-9, Jon Nielson hit a lay-in to give Wheaton its only lead of the half at 11-10. Elmhurst quickly took the lead back on a Nick Michael bucket and pushed it’s lead to five points at 16-11 with 12:48 to play. The Bluejays quieted the Thunder for the next four minutes, not letting Wheaton get any closer than four points. With 8:45 to play, Elmhurst opened up an 8-0 run, keyed by two Patrick Trierweiler lay-ups, to take a 32-20 lead with 4:30 to play. A technical foul on Wheaton Head Coach Bill Harris allowed Elmhurst to take a 15-point lead after a free-throw and a jumper from David Gershenzon. A lay-in by Michael with two seconds to play gave Elmhurst its biggest lead of the half at 44-28.
The Bluejays were red hot from the field in the first half, hitting 19-of-29 shots (65.5 percent). Elmhurst did the majority of its damage inside, scoring 30 points in the paint in the first 20 points. The Bluejays held Wheaton to just 36 percent shooting (9-of-25) from the floor.
After a Michael lay-in on the opening possession of the second half put Elmhurst up 18, Wheaton came charging back, scoring the next 10 points and closing to within eight points at 48-40. The Bluejays answered back with Chris Martin keying an 8-2 Bluejay run. Martin sunk a pair of free throws, hit a lay-up and assisted on a pair of Trierweiler lay-ups to put Elmhurst up 56-42 with 12:28 to play. The two teams traded buckets for the next several minutes, with Wheaton getting no closer than 13 points with 8:15 to play. Leading by 14 points with 6:18 to play, Gershenzon and Michael each hit a free throw and Gershenzon hit a driving lay-in to put Elmhurst back up by 18 at 75-57 with 4:15 to play. The Thunder made one last charge, rattling off a 13-4 run to pull to within nine points with 1:39 to play. The Bluejays put the game away from the free-throw line, hitting 9-of-10 attempts in the final 1:30 to come away with the 88-77 victory.
For the game, Elmhurst shot 55.9 percent from the floor on 33-of-59 shooting. The Bluejays connected on 4-of-11 attempts from beyond the arc (36.4 percent). The Bluejays hit 18-of-24 free throw attempts (75 percent). Wheaton, who shot 54.8 percent from the field in the second half, finished the game shooting 46.4 percent from the floor (26-of-56) and 35.5 percent (11-of-31) from downtown. The Thunder converted 14-of-18 free throw attempts (77.8). Elmhurst out-scored Wheaton 52-28 inside the paint. The Bluejays also won the rebounding battle, out-rebounding the Thunder 36-29.
Michael powered the Bluejays in the paint, finishing with 28 points (21 in the first half) on 12-of-15 shooting from the floor. Martin had a fantastic all-around game, finishing with 17 points and game-highs in rebounds (eight), assists (seven), and steals (seven). In the process, Martin became the all-time steals leader at Elmhurst with 160 career steals, surpassing the previous mark of 156 held by Vince Doran (1988-1992). Gershenzon added 12 points off the bench and Trierweiler finished with eight points. Jay Brizzolara netted nine points and Craig Schau finished with seven points and four assists.
Wheaton was led by Raymond’s 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting (5-of-9 from downtown). Martin Trimiew added 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Jon Nielson added 12 points and five assists for the Thunder. Jonathon Steven finished with 10 points and six boards in the loss.
The Bluejays pulled to within a half game of first place in the CCIW, setting up a premier showdown with Illinois Wesleyan University (8-2 in the CCIW) on Saturday, February 19, at 7:30 p.m.