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MBB | IWU at Wheaton
Kodiak Creative
66
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 15-3,8-2 CCIW
74
Winner Elmhurst ELM 13-5,5-4 CCIW
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
15-3,8-2 CCIW
66
Final
74
Elmhurst ELM
13-5,5-4 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 27 39 66
Elmhurst ELM 36 38 74

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men’s Hoops Bested by 19th-Ranked Bluejays

Titans drop to 15-3 overall, 8-2 in the CCIW

ELMHURST, Ill. - The second-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University men's basketball team was bested by No. 19 Elmhurst University, 74-66, Wednesday night, Jan. 26, at R.A. Faganel Hall. IWU is now 15-3 overall and 8-2 in conference play, while EU jumped to 13-5 on the season and 5-4 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. 

Senior Cory Noe (Mahomet, Ill.-Mahomet-Seymour) scored a game-high 15 points, and fellow senior Peter Lambesis (Mt. Prospect, Ill.-St. Viator) added 14 points. Junior Lucas Helfen (St. Charles, Ill.-St. Charles East) tallied 12 points, four rebounds, and two steals off the bench. Rounding out IWU's double-digit scorers was senior Matthew Leritz (St. Louis, Mo.-St. Louis University HS) with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Illinois Wesleyan shot 40 percent from the field (26-for-65), but struggled from beyond the arc. The Titans went just 4-for-20 from distance, with Heflen hitting two threes and Lambesis and Noe tallying one each. IWU was 10-for-14 from the free throw line, where EU finished 17-for-21. The Bluejays connected on 42.6 percent (26-of-61) of their shot attempts and 5-of-22 their three-point tries. 

Rebounds finished tied at 38 each, while the teams also finished even in turnovers with 12. Illinois Wesleyan secured seven steals to Elmhurst's three, but the Bluejays held a 4-0 edge in blocks. 

A fastbreak layup by Lambesis gave IWU a 7-2 edge just over a minute and a half in. EU responded with seven straight to take a 9-7 lead with 14:43 to play in the first half. 

The Bluejays expanded their lead to as many as 10 before a jumper by Noe and a EU free throw sent IWU trailing into the half, 36-27.

Elmhurst opened the second half with a layup, but junior Luke Yoder (Normal, Ill.-Central Catholic) answered with a jumper. Leritz followed with a bucket of his own, and Lambesis found Noe for a three-ball to cut the deficit to four, 38-34, with 17:57 to go.

After EU upped its lead back to eight, a three by Heflen, jumper by sophomore Ryan Sroka (Lake in the Hills, Ill.-Huntley), and a layup by Leritz trimmed the Bluejays lead to two, 47-45, with 12:35 on the clock.

IWU came within two points five minutes later on a Heflen triple, but Elmhurst once again rattled off seven points in-a-row to maintain control. 

The Green and White mounted one last comeback attempt late, cutting what was once a 12-point deficit to four on a pair of free throws by Noe with under a minute to play, but the Bluejays hung on to defeat the Titans, 74-66.

Next up for the Green and White is a non-conference battle against Concordia University-Chicago Saturday night, Jan. 29. The game will tipoff at 7 p.m. inside the Shirk Center. 
 
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