CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Elmhurst University men's basketball team rallied from a seven-point deficit to defeat Calvin University and advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship for the first time in school history.

Elmhurst (25-6) trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half and overcame a seven-point deficit in the second half to win its third straight contest in the NCAA Tournament.

Down 58-51 with 10:47 left, Elmhurst slowly began to claw away at Calvin's (22-9) lead. The Bluejays trailed 63-59 with seven minutes left but buckets from Jonathan Zapinski and Dominic Genco brought Elmhurst even at 63-63 with 6:22 left. Marcus Bult put Calvin up 68-65 with a 3-pointer, but a 5-0 run from Lavon Thomas put Elmhurst in front 70-69 for the first time in the half with 4:30 left. After Calvin pulled even with a free throw and the two teams traded 3-pointers, Elmhurst went in front for good with three minutes left.

Jake Rhode drove to the bucket and converted a three-point play to put the Bluejays up 76-63. Thomas followed with a jumper to give Elmhurst a 78-73 lead with 2:22 remaining. Calvin cut the Bluejays' lead down to two with 47 seconds left after a bucket from Emmett Warners. Following a Bluejays' miss, Calvin had the ball with 19 seconds remaining, but the Bluejays' defense forced an off-balance, off-target shot from Luke Morrison at the buzzer, giving Elmhurst the two-point victory.

Calvin jumped out to a fast start in the opening half, starting the contest on a 14-4 run to open up a 10-point cushion. Elmhurst answered back with a 12-2 run over the next 3:18 to pull even at 16-all. Calvin moved back in front on a 3-pointer from Thad Shymanski but back-to-back buckets from Ocean Johnson and Dominic Genco gave Elmhurst its first lead of the half at 20-19 with 10:19 remaining. With the score tied at 22-22, Calvin ripped off an 8-0 run to take a 30-22 lead with 5:25 remaining. Elmhurst closed to within three points, but the Knights pushed their lead up to seven at 38-31 at the half.

After a sluggish first half shooting, the Bluejays shot a blistering 56.3 percent (18-of-32) in the second half, finishing the contest shooting 45.6 percent (31-of-68) from the floor. Elmhurst won the battle on the glass, outrebounding Calvin 41-33.

Four players reached double figures in scoring to pace Elmhurst in the win. Dominic Genco led the way with 17 points, including nine in the opening half. Genco shot 7-of-11 from the floor in the win. Jake Rhode scored 16 points, including 14 in the second half. He added a team-leading eight reboudns and six assists in the win. Lavon Thomas finished with 14 point and five rebounds, scoring 12 points in the game's final 20 minutes. Wesley Hooker added 11 for the Bluejays, including nine in the opening half. Bryce Drews and Zapinski scored six points apiece and Zapinski added seven rebounds for Elmhurst.

Calvin shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the floor, including 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from 3-point range. Shymanski was on fire all night, finishing with 32 points while hitting 7-of-7 from 3-point range. Uchenna Egekeze added 13 points and five assists while Bult came off the bench to score 10. Elmhurst limited Knight's leading scorer Luke Morrison to just six points on a 2-of-11 shooting night.

With the win, the Bluejays will face the winner of the Mary-Hardin Baylor/Case Western Reserve contest in tomorrow's quarterfinal. The game will begin at 8:00 p.m. (EST) at Case Western Reserve.