ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst men's basketball team closed out the 2013-14 season with an 80-76 loss to North Central, as the Bluejays' rally in the final minutes came up short.
Elmhurst (14-11, 6-8 CCIW) trailed by 10 with 1:39 left to play, but an 11-3 run by Elmhurst over the next minute brought the Bluejays to within two points with just 33 seconds left. The run was keyed by four points from Kyle Wuest and five points from Nathan Rogers. Rogers buried a clutch three-pointer with 33 seconds left to bring Elmhurst to within two.
North Central's inbounds pass after the Rogers' three was nearly stolen, but the Cardinals' Vince Kmiec hit a fast break lay-up and Elmhurst was whistled for a foul in the process. Kmiec hit the free throw to put North Central up by five with 24 seconds left. After an Elmhurst miss, the Cardinals' Brandon Williams converted a pair of free throws to put the game away for the Cardinals. Bryant Ackerman's three-pointer in the closing seconds made the final score 80-76 in favor of the Cardinals.
North Central (14-11, 7-7 CCIW) grabbed control of the game in the first half with a late 8-0 run. Leading by three with 6:22 left, the Cardinals' scored the next eight points, including six from Landon Gamble to open up an 11-point cushion. The Cardinals led 32-23 at the half.
Elmhurst shot 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the floor, including 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from downtown.
Wuest led Elmhurst in the loss with 18 points and five assists before fouling out. Taylor Baxter added 11 points while Will Nixon scored 16. Peyton Wyatt came off the bench to score eight, including a pair of second half three-pointers.
Nick Sanford closed out his career with five points, eclipsing the 1,000-point career mark in the process. Sanford entered the game with 997 points and scored his 1,000th point in the second half on a free throw.
North Central shot 56.3 percent (27-of-48) from the field and were a solid 24-of-30 (80.0 percent) from the foul line. The Cardinals dominated the game inside, outscoring Elmhurst 48-26 in the paint.
Elmhurst struggled to contain Gamble as the Cardinals' senior scored a career-high 33 points, shooting 11-of-16 from the floor and hitting 11-of-14 free throws. He added a team-high nine rebounds in the win. Brandon Williams added 17 points and six assists while Kmiec scored 13. Elmhurst finished the year with an eight-game improvement in its record from the previous season (6-19). The Bluejays also improved by four wins in the CCIW standings under John Baines' direction.