ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team ran its winning streak to 13 games after surviving a scare from North Park and toppling the Vikings 91-88 in overtime.

The closely contest featured 12 lead changes and seven ties. Elmhurst, ranked #2 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, led for over 37 minutes of action, but the Bluejays could not pull away from North Park (11-6, 3-3 CCIW).

Elmhurst (16-1, 6-0 CCIW) led by as many as seven points in the opening half and carried a 44-40 lead into halftime. North Park grabbed a quick lead early in the second on a Juwan Henry three-pointer, but the Bluejays responded with a 14-5 run over the next six minutes to build an eight-point lead (59-51) following a three-pointer from Brandon Schwebke. The Bluejays took their biggest lead of the night at nine points (66-57) after a Kenny Payonk jumper with nine minutes to play.

North Park fought its way back with an 18-7 run over the next seven minutes, sparked by four three-pointers, including a pair from Collin Lake. A trey from Lake with just over two minutes to play put the Vikings in front 75-73. Elmhurst pulled even on a pair of free throws from Kyle Wuest, but A Jordan Robinson layup with 1:29 left put the Vikings back up 77-75. Following an Elmhurst turnover, Robinson hit two free throws to give North Park its largest lead of the night at four points (79-75) with 1:13 remaining.

Will Nixon collected a critical offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer and was fouled. Nixon sank both free throws to pull Elmhurst to within two points with 1:13 remaining.

Lake missed a three-pointer from the corner with the shot clock winding down, but Henry collected the offensive rebound, forcing the Bluejays to foul. Shooting a one-and-one, Henry missed the free throw with Bryant Ackerman grabbing the rebound for the Bluejays. Erik Crittenden hit a clutch 10-foot jumper from the baseline while falling down to knot the score at 79-79 with just under eight seconds to play. The Vikings had a chance to win it before the final horn, but Lake missed a layup as time expired.

Elmhurst never trailed in the extra period as Crittenden quickly put the Bluejays in front with a layup. A tip-in from Henry evened the score at 81-81, but Ackerman hit a layup in traffic to put the Bluejays back in front for good with 4:23 to play. Leading by one, with just over two minutes to play, Crittenden converted a three-point play to give Elmhurst an 88-84 lead. North Park struggled from the foul line in overtime, hitting just 1-of-5 from the foul line as fatigue took its toll on the Vikings. Three free throws from Eric Leonard in the final 17 seconds gave Elmhurst a six-point cushion with three seconds remaining and allowed the Bluejays to come away with a three-point victory after Lake hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Elmhurst had a balanced attack on offense with four players reaching double figures. Crittenden led the charge by pumping in a team-high 19 points. He shot 8-of-11 from the floor and pulled down six rebounds in the win. Ackerman added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists while Nixon collected a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds. Wuest totaled 11points, six rebounds and four assists. Pat Coleman added nine points while Schwebke came off the bench to score eight. Leonard finished with seven points and a game-high seven assists in the victory. All 10 Bluejays who saw the floor put points on the scoreboard.

The Bluejays shot 49.2 percent (32-of-65) from the field, but struggled from long-range, hitting just 7-of-25 (28.0 percent) from three-point distance. Elmhurst won the battle on the glass, outrebounding North Park 48-35, and the Bluejays' bench outscored the Vikings' bench 29-18.

North Park's duo of Henry and Robinson gave the Bluejays fits all night. The pair combined for 61 points in the loss. Robinson led the way with 31 points and 12 rebounds while Henry totaled 30 points and collected eight boards. Both players shot 12-of-25 from the floor. Robinson played nearly the entire contest, coming off the floor for less than 30 seconds while experiencing cramping in overtime. Henry played 40 minutes of action. Lake was on the floor for 42 minutes and scored 12 points for the Vikings, taking 11 of his 14 attempts from three-point range.

North Park shot 44.0 percent (33-of-75) from the field and shot 41.7 percent from downtown. The Vikings hoisted 36 three-pointers in the contest, hitting on 15.

With the win, Elmhurst remained unbeaten in CCIW play, improving to 6-0 for the first time since the 2000-01 season. Elmhurst travels to #25 North Central College on Saturday, January 23.