The Pioneers' Mike Jamerson was fouled attempting a three-point basket with 1.4 seconds remaining and the Pioneers trailing by a point. The junior made the first two shots, giving the Pioneers a 67-66 lead. He deliberately missed the third, and the Bluejays rebounded the ball and called timeout with 0.6 seconds remaining. Elmhurst's Chris Martin hit the Williams Fieldhouse ceiling on his desperation pass attempt, giving the ball to the Pioneers.
Martin almost gave the Pioneers a loss seconds earlier. He grabbed an offensive rebound, dribbled out to the left and nailed a three-point basket with 6.8 seconds remaining for a 66-65 Elmhust lead. That capped a Bluejay rally from eight down with 1:54 to play.
The Pioneers, ranked 20th in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and receiving votes in this week's rankings, improved to 4-2. Elmhurst, who was 15th in the preseason poll, fell to 2-2. The playoff-like game featured 15 lead changes and 11 ties.
Jamerson scored 22 points to lead the Pioneers, while Terry Donovan pumped in 12, hitting all five of his shots. Mark Gossens added 11 points, while Sean Krause saw his first action of the year after being sidelined with an injury and finished with a game-high four assists.
Martin, a preseason all-American, finished with 31 points, while Brian Lee had 12 and Nick Michael 10.
The Pioneers jump into Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday at 5 p.m. at UW-Stout. The Blue Devils opened conference play Wednesday by destroying UW-Eau Claire, 72-35.