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Bluejay Hoops Squad Scores Season Opening 85-71 Win
Box Score
ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst College men's basketball team, ranked 18th in D3hoops.com's top-25 poll, scored an 85-71 win over Simpson College in their season-opening contest.
The duo of Ryan Burks (Manito/Midwest Central) and Brent Ruch (Farmer City/Blue Ridge) combined to score 46 points and pull down 17 rebounds to lead the Bluejays.
The Bluejays outshot and outrebounded Simpson to score the win. The Bluejays shot 58.8 percent (30-of-51) from the floor and a whopping 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from beyond the arc. Simpson finished the game shooting 41.5 percent (27-of-65) from the floor and 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from 3-point range. Elmhurst owned a 38-25 advantage on the glass.
Simpson's pressure defense gave the Bluejays' fits, as Elmhurst turned the ball over 29 times, leading to 32 of Simpson's 71 points.
Elmhurst (1-0) used a 24-7 run midway through the first half to pull away and open up a 16-point advantage. Elmhurst built an 18-point first-half lead and led 44-27 at the break.
Elmhurst built a 21-point lead (67-46) with 10 minutes to play in the game before Simpson (0-1) responded with a run. The Storm used a 15-3 run to pull to within nine points with 6:30 to play, but came no closer as Elmhurst slowly pulled away.
Burks led all scorers with 27 points, two points shy of his career high. He shot 8-of-12 from the floor and hit 6-of-7 from downtown. He also pulled down eight boards in the win. Ruch finished with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Matt Ryder (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) finished with 13 points in the Elmhurst win. Jared Hintzsche (Kirkland/Hiawatha) came off the bench to score seven for Elmhurst.
Tim Dunlavy led Simpson with 17 points and six rebounds. Andrew Dau and Matt Gilbert came off the bench to combine for 23 points with Dau finishing with 13 and Gilbert totaling 10. Brennen Tubaugh added 11 points for Simpson in the loss.
Elmhurst hosts MacMurray College on Tuesday, November 20, at 8:00 p.m.
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