ELMHURST, Ill. – The Elmhurst men's basketball team mounted a furious second-half rally before falling 77-73 in overtime to fourth-ranked Augustana College.
Elmhurst (15-4, 5-3 CCIW), ranked 16th in the latest D3hoops.com poll, trailed by 11 points with 6:30 left to play before rallying to force overtime.
Augustana (16-3, 7-1 CCIW) raced out to an early 13-6 lead seven minutes into the contest, but the Bluejays answered back with a 7-0 run to pull even at 13-13 after an Erik Leonard bucket with 11 minutes remaining in the first. With the score even at 15-15, the Vikings seized control of the contest, ripping off an 11-0 run ignited by four points from Nic Hoepfner and a three-pointer from Griffin Pils.
Elmhurst pulled to within nine points with 4:35 left in the half, but the Vikings used an 11-5 run over the next three minutes to open up a 15-point cushion. The Bluejays pulled to within 11 points (40-29) at the half.
Elmhurst pulled to within four points early in the second half only to see Augustana respond with a 12-5 run to extend its lead back to 11 points with 6:28 remaining. Bryant Ackerman and Erik Crittenden helped fuel an Elmhurst comeback over the remainder of the contest. A pair of three-pointers from Ackerman and a four points from Crittenden keyed a 10-2 run to bring Elmhurst to within three points with 2:26 left to play. The Bluejays trailed by four with 2:16 left, but Ackerman was fouled shooting a three-pointer and hit two free throws to pull the Bluejays to within a bucket with 1:49 left. The Vikings misfired on their next possession, but the Bluejays' missed a lay-up with Augustana collecting the rebound with 54 seconds left. With time ticking off the shot clock Hunter Hill missed a three-pointer with Crittenden collecting the rebound. After an Elmhurst timeout, Ackerman hit a floater in the lane to tie the score at 64-64 with 1.2 seconds left. The Vikings' attempted a tip-play three-pointer from Jawan Straughter, but the shot rimmed out forcing the game to overtime.
In the extra period, the Bluejays grabbed a 69-67 lead after Kyle Wuest connected on a three-pointer. Ackerman added a free throw to give Elmhurst a 70-67 lead with 3:20 remaining, but Straughter hit a trey to pull Augustana even with three minutes left. The two squads traded buckets to keep the score even at 72-all with 1:52 left. Hill put the Vikings on top 74-72 with a jumper with 52 seconds left. The Bluejays split a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left to cut the Vikings lead in half. Danielius Jurgutis hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to put Augustana up by three. After a pair of missed free throws by Elmhurst, Straughter hit one from the free throw line to seal the 77-73 win for the Vikings.
Elmhurst shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) from the floor, including 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from downtown. Elmhurst struggled from the foul line, hitting just 14-of-24 attempts (58.3 percent), including just 2-of-6 in overtime.
Ackerman and Crittenden scored 14 points apiece to pace Elmhurst in the loss. Crittenden collected a team-leading nine rebounds and three blocks in the loss while Ackerman grabbed five boards. Wuest added 10 points while Will Nixon, Peyton Wyatt and Nathan Rogers tallied nine points apiece.
Augustana shot 42.4 percent (28-of-66) from the floor, including 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from long distance. The Vikings hit 15-of-20 attempts (75.0 percent) from the foul line.
Five players reached double figures in scoring for Augustana. Brandon Motzel led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds while Hoepfner added 12 points and six boards. Hill and Straughter scored 11 points apiece while Pils added 10 points.
Elmhurst hosts Millikin University on Saturday, January 31, at 4:00 p.m.