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Elmhurst Men Knock Off Hope 74-71
Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. -Ryan Burks (Mainto/Midwest Central) hit three free throws with less than a second to play to lift the 21st-ranked Elmhurst College men's basketball team to a 74-71 win over eighth-ranked Hope College in the RDV Sportsplex Tournament.
"This rates as one of our biggest victories in my tenure at Elmhurst College," said Bluejays' head coach Mark Scherer. "Hope is a very talented, final-four caliber team."
Despite holding Hope to only one field goal in the game's final 12 minutes of play, the Bluejays found themselves deadlocked at 71-all after a pair of free throws from Hope's Marcus Vanderheide. With less than 15 seconds to play, the Bluejays brought the ball up and found Burks for an open look, but he was fouled by Derek VanSolkema as he let the ball go. Burks went to the foul line and converted all three free throws to give the Bluejays the 3-point victory.
After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, Elmhurst (6-1) closed the first half on a 23-8 run to pull to within a point (38-37) at the break.
Elmhurst grabbed a five-point lead early in the second half before Hope (6-2) responded with a 13-4 run to take a 57-53 lead on a Vanderheide 3-point play with 12:12 remaining. Both teams went cold from the floor over the next six minutes with the Bluejays hitting only 2-of-13 and Hope missing all five of its shots. The Flying Dutchmen managed to build a six-point lead from the foul line with 6:17 to play.
The Bluejays got rolling with an 11-1 run over the next three minutes to take a 68-64 lead after Jimmy Saris (Crystal Lake/Crystal Lake South) knocked down a trey.
Hope cut the Bluejays' lead down to one on a VanSolkema 3-pointer with 2:11 remaining. Saris put Elmhurst back up by two after hitting a free throw with 1:08 to play. After both teams turned the ball over, Hope's Ryan Klein missed a 3-pointer but Vanderheide was fouled while getting the rebound. He hit both free throws to tie the score and set up the game's dramatic finish.
Elmhurst shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the floor and 38.5 percent (5-of-13) from beyond the arc while Hope shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 30.8 percent (4-of-13) from downtown.
The game was a very physical game with both teams utilizing a full court press leading to a combined 48 turnovers. Hope tuned 25 Elmhurst turnovers into 33 points while the Bluejays' scored 15 off 23 Hope turnovers.
"This was a very high-energy game," said Scherer. "It was a tremendously physical game with both teams forcing a lot of turnovers."
Despite constant double and triple teams, the Bluejays' duo of Burks and Brent Ruch (Farmer City/Blue Ridge) both finished with 16 points. Ruch added nine rebounds and three steals while Burks pulled down five boards.
Saris finished 4-of-6 from the floor to total 10 points. He also dished out three assists while committing only one turnover.
"Jimmy Saris played outstanding for us today," said Scherer. He helped us offensively while playing great defense. Jimmy and Dustin Bainter (Macomb/H.S.) put constant pressure on the Hope point guards which led to a lot of turnovers."
Matt Ryder (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) and Jared Hintzsche (Kirkland/Hiawatha) each added nine points for the Bluejays. Hintzsche also pulled down seven boards in the win.
Vanderheide paced the Flying Dutchmen with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He also pulled down eight rebounds while recording two steals, two blocks, and two assists. Jesse Remink added 11 points and six rebounds while Tyler Wolfe poured in 10 points. Klein finished with nine points and three assists in the loss.
Elmhurst returns to action on December 31, when they host Anderson University at 3:00 p.m. The game will be the first of four contests in a seven-day span for Elmhurst.
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