The North Central College men's basketball team came out on the short end of a hard-fought defensive battle at Gregory Arena on Saturday, as the Cardinals suffered a 66-57 setback against Elmhurst College in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play.

North Central (13-3, 3-2 CCIW) limited the Bluejays to 30.9 percent shooting (17 of 55) from the floor but was able to shoot just 34.0 percent (18 of 53) itself. Elmhurst emerged victorious after compiling a 48-33 rebounding advantage and making 27 of 36 free throws, including a 16 of 20 effort in the second half.

The Cardinals' Jayme Moten was the one player seemingly immune to any defensive shackles early on, as he canned five consecutive three-pointers in the first nine minutes to keep the hosts in front for much of the early going. The Bluejays scored seven straight points to take a 28-24 lead with 7:02 on the first-half clock, but a layup by Brandon Whiteand a pair of free throws by Charles Rosenberg tied the score with 4:24 before halftime. Elmhurst countered by scoring eight of the next 10 points and went into the break with a 36-32 advantage.

After trailing by as many as six points in the second half, the Cardinals rallied and finally retook the lead with a 6-0 run capped off by a steal and dunk by Rosenberg which left the score at 50-48 with 7:21 left. The score was deadlocked at 51-51 with 4:29 to play when the Bluejays' Bryant Ackerman buried a three-pointer from the left corer which wound up putting the Bluejays in front for good. Elmhurst sank a perfect 8 of 8 free throws in the final three minutes to put the game away, six of which came from Kyle Wuest.

Moten wound up connecting on a career-high eight three-pointers in 14 attempts and totaling a game-high 25 points, while White put up a career-high 10 points and Rosenberg finished with five blocked shots and three steals. Wuest finished with 23 points, making 16 of 17 free throws, and Ackerman and Will Nixon totaled 12 points each for the Bluejays (13-3, 3-2).

North Central plays at Carthage College (7-8, 3-2) on Wednesday, with tipoff at Tarble Arena set for 7:00 p.m.