Elmhurst led almost the entire game, trailing only one time in the contest. The Bluejays capitalized on Illinois Wesleyan mistakes converting 16 turnovers into 15 points. Elmhurst turned the ball over just six times leading to three Titan points.
Elmhurst grabbed the lead right out of the gate on a Nick Michael jumper. A 6-0 early run by the Bluejays pushed their lead to seven points at 15-8. Illinois Wesleyan managed to trim the lead down to four points, but Elmhurst answered back. Leading by five with 2:30 to play in the half Robert Stzemp and Chris Ihlenfeldt each knocked down jumpers to give Elmhurst a 35-26 lead at halftime.
In the first half, Elmhurst turned the ball over just one time, while the Titans committed nine turnovers.
The Titans made a run early in the second half, cutting the Bluejays' nine point lead down to one t 45-44. The Titans continued their run, outscoring Elmhurst 5-2 to take their only lead of the game at 49-47. A Michael lay-in evened the score and then Chris Martin knocked down two long-range 3-pointers to put Elmhurst up six at 55-49. After the Titans cut the lead back down to four points with under five minutes to play, Martin drained his fifth trey of the night to give the Bluejays a seven-point advantage. After a Titan turnover, Michael hit a lay-on to put the Bluejays up nine at 62-53.
The Titans trimmed the lead down to six points with under two minutes to play, but Brent Ruch's put-back with 1:20 to play, put Elmhurst up 66-58. The Bluejays sealed the win from the foul line, hitting four of their final six attempts and coming away with the 72-64 win.
Elmhurst shot 44.4 percent from the floor (28-of-63) and 28 percent (7-of-25) from beyond the arc. The Bluejays hit 75 percent (9-of-12) of their free throw attempts.
Illinois Wesleyan finished the game shooting 41.4 percent from the floor (24-of-58) and 47.8 percent from long-distance (11-of-23). The Titans hit just 5-of-12 free throws (41.7 percent).
Elmhurst was led by Michael's 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Martin finished with 15 points, all from 3-point range. He pulled down a game-high nine rebounds as well. Brian Lee (Orland Park-Sandburg) shot 5-of-10 from the floor and finished with 12 points. Ihlenfeldt added 10 points.
Adam Dauksas led the Titans with a game-high 28 points on 9-of-21 shooting. He was lights-out from long range, hitting 8-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc. Zach Freeman added 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Cory Jones added eight points and nine boards in the loss. Keelan Amelianovich, the Titans' leading scorer, was held to only five points.
The Bluejays travel to North Park University on Wednesday, January 18.