ELMHURST, Ill. – The Carroll University men's basketball team dropped its fifth straight contest of the season on the road against the Elmhurst Bluejays on Saturday evening. Despite multiple hot shooting streaks, Carroll fell 78-85. Ryan Mendoza finished with a team-high 15 points, while Aaron Wafford and Ethan Balinao dropped 12 points each. Justin Steinike pulled in six rebounds off the bench.
 
The Pioneers (3-7, 0-4 CCIW) shot 54.2% for the game and 11-22 from behind the arc. The only Pio shortcoming was just their four attempts at the free-throw line, to the Bluejay's 15. Carroll matched the Bluejays in rebounds with 27 and scored 32 of the team's total points from bench players. Carroll created 15 points off of eight steals from 14 Bluejay turnovers, while Carroll lost possession 20 times this game.
 
The Pioneers started down 13-2 through the first four minutes of the contest. Elmhurst kept their foot on the gas after a made jumper from Tyler Miller, running it back with 10 straight points. Carroll hit double digits after Aaron Wafford's three-pointer with 8:26 left in the first half. Carter Sturgeon made three straight layups for the Pioneers to cut the deficit to 13 points, and Carroll ended the half on a 10-5 run to go into halftime down 30-44. Carroll shot 48% in the first half and 62.5% over the last 10 minutes.
 
Carroll was down 22 points with 14:46 left in the contest before they climbed back on an 11-2 run kicked off by a Gio Carrillo three-pointer. Elmhurst kept their distance from the Pios keeping their lead high most of the second half, but Carroll started a 20-9 run from 7:53 down to 30 left in the game, capped off by an Ethan Balinao three-pointer to force a timeout. After a pair of free throws in the foul game, Wafford knocked down another three to bring the deficit to just seven with 15 seconds left. After a second Carroll foul with 12 seconds left, and two more Bluejay free throws, Elmhurst had enough fouls to give to run out the clock and the Pioneers were only able to muster up a two-pointer to finish.
 
Carroll will play their makeup game with Concordia Chicago on Monday, December 20 down in Illinois with a 4 PM tip-off.