Despite playing a sloppy half with 13 turnovers, the Bluejays carried a 31-30 lead into the locker room at halftime. The first half featured four ties and six lead changes as neither team was able to build a lead of more than six points. The Bluejays led by six at 16-10 and again at 18-12 while the Vikings largest lead was three points at 8-5 and 25-22. Trailing 27-25 with 1:44 to play, the Bluejays scored six straight points to grab a 31-27 lead with under 30 seconds to play. Rick Harrigan drained a 3-pointer as time expired to cut the Bluejay lead to 31-30 at the half.
Elmhurst came out firing in the second half, opening up a 39-32 lead after a lay-in and free throw by Chris Ihlenfeldt. With the Bluejays leading 42-35 with 12:23 to play, Augustana opened up a 13-0 run keyed by a pair of 3-pointers by Jay McAdams-Thornton and a pair of buckets, including a trey by Harrigan. Patrick Trierweiler put back his own miss to break the Bluejays scoring drought at 7:49 A bucket by Chris Martin and a lay-up by Nick Michael knotted the score at 48 with 4:30 to play. Harrigan caught fire from downtown, pouring in three consecutive treys sandwiched in between a Michael lay-in to put Augustana up 57-50 with 2:30 to play. Michael cut the lead to five with a 15-foot jumper with 2:15. After Augustana missed a free throw, Ihlenfeldt buried a clutch 3-pointer with 48 ticks left on the clock to bring the Bluejays to within a bucket at 57-55. Ihlenfeldt came up big again in the final seconds, coming away with a steal with 11seconds. Martin drove the length of the court and scored on a finger-role lay-in with six seconds left. Harrigan’s three-pointer at the buzzer went off the back iron and sent the game into overtime.
The Bluejays and Michael took over the opening minutes of the extra period. Michael hit a lay-up off a Martin feed to put the Bluejays up by a pair just seconds into overtime. After a Drew Wessels free-throw cut the lead in half, Michael answered back with a fade away jumper from the wing. After an Augustana turnover, Martin fed Michael for another lay-in, forcing Augustana to burn a timeout, trailing 63-58. The Vikings found an answer Harrigan scored the next four points, sinking a pair of free throws and hiting a lay-up to bring the Vikings to within a point at 63-62 with 2:44 left. Michael scored his seventh for the Bluejays by hitting a free throw to give Elmhurst a 64-62 lead. The Vikings tied the score when Travis Hoyt sank a pair of free-throws to even the score at 64-64 with a minute and half remaining.
The Bluejays grabbed the lead when David Gershenzon hit a driving lay-up in the paint with 1:14 to play. Augustana’s Joe Bauman missed a jumper but grabbed his own rebound. McAdams-Thornton 3-point attempt missed and Ihlenfeldt grabbed the board. The Bluejays called timeout with 23 seconds to play. On the ensuing inbounds play, Ihlenfeldt found Gershenzon wide-open under the basket. Gershenzon hit the uncontested lay-up with 20 seconds to play to give Elmhurst a 68-64 lead. The Vikings made one last charge as Harrigan hit his sixth trey of the game with one second left. The Bluejays simply threw the ball down court, letting the final second tick away.
For the game, Elmhurst shot 50 percent from the floor (29-of-58) and 29.4 percent from 3-point range (5-of-17). The Vikings shot 38.1 percent from the floor (24-of-63) and 10-of-22 from beyond the arc (45.5 percent). The Bluejays owned the rebounding battle, grabbing 41 boards to Augustana’s 30. Elmhurst also had a distinct advantage inside, outscoring Augustana 46-20 in the paint. The Bluejays lone problem was ball control, turning the ball over 26 times to Augustana’s 16.
Michael finished with a double-double to lead the Bluejays. He scored 21 points, including seven in overtime, and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Martin and Ihlenfeldt each finished with 14 points. Martin added five rebounds and six assists in the win. Gershenzon chipped in with eight points.
Harrigan was red-hot for Augustana, scoring almost half the team’s points. He poured in a game-high 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting, including 6-of-11 from downtown. McAdams-Thornton added 14 points in the loss while Wessels finished with seven. Hoyt was the top rebounder with eight.
The Bluejays, who were picked to finish in the CCIW tournament, closed out the regular season at 18-7 overall and 10-4 in league play. Their league record clinched a second-place tie with Wheaton College. The Bluejays’ 10 wins is their most in league play since the CCIW championship year in 2000-01 when they finished with 12-2.