A technical foul called on Carthage head coach Bosko Djurickovic with 3:15 to play seemed to turn the tide in the Bluejays favor. Elmhurst was trailing by five points after a Malik Imani lay-up with 3:28 to play. Chris Martin hit a driving lay-up and was fouled by Carthage's Kyle Jeffrey. Before Martin could go to the line, Djurickovic was hit with the technical. Chris Ihlenfeldt sunk both of the technical free throws to bring the Carthage lead down to one.
Carthage continued to hold their lead as the Bluejays went cold from the free throw line. With 1:35 to play, Ihlenfeldt found Nick Michael open for a jumper in the paint to put the Bluejays up 74-73. After a missed jumper by Jeffrey, Ihlenfeldt grabbed the loose ball for the Bluejays. Martin's jumper with 25 seconds to play was no good, but the rebound bounced around and went out of bounds to Elmhurst. Carthage was forced to foul Ihlenfeldt who sank both free throws to give Elmhurst a three-point advantage with 20 seconds to play. Martin sealed the win by picking off a pass from Jeffrey and hitting a lay-in with five seconds to go.
Carthage was held scoreless for the remainder of the game after the technical foul call.
Elmhurst led by as many as 12 points midway through the first half, but a late 8-0 run brought the Red Men to within four at 29-25. Carthage trailed Elmhurst 33-28 at halftime.
The Redmen picked up the offense in the second half and chipped away at the Bluejays' lead, finally taking a 50-49 advantage on a Chris Lee 3-pointer. The two teams traded buckets over the next several minutes until Carthage built five-point advantage on a Mark Morrison 3-pointer with 4:19 to play. Imani's lay-up with 3:28 to play was the last Carthage bucket. The game featured seven ties and 10 lead changes.
For the game, the Bluejays shot 50 percent from the floor (24-of-48) and 50 percent from 3-point range (6-of-12). The Bluejays converted 24-of-32 free throw attempts (75 percent).
After starting slowly in the first half (11-of-28 for 39.3 percent), Carthage was lights out in the second half, shooting 67.9 percent from the floor on 19-of-28 attempts. For the game, the Red Men shot 53.6 percent from the floor (30-of-56) and 35 percent from downtown (7-of-20). The Red Men were 6-of-12 from the foul line.
Four players finished in double figures for the Bluejays. Michael led the way with 16 points including 8-of-9 from the foul line. Martin and Ihlenfeldt each finished with 15 points. Martin pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Robert Strzemp finished with 14 points.
Jeffrey led Carthage with 25 points on 10-of-18 from the floor. He also pulled down seven boards. Imani added 15 points in the loss. Lee and Morrison each came off the bench to score nine points.
Elmhurst will host fifth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, January 14, at 7:30 p.m.