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Bluejays Fall Short to #6 Albion
Boxscore
ALBION, Mich. - The Elmhurst College men's basketball team fell short in its bid to upset #6 Albion College, falling 74-66 in the Championship game of the Albion Tournament. The Bluejays (ranked #16 in the D3hoops.com poll) slipped to 8-3 overall while Albion improved to 9-1.
The Bluejays trailed 39-32 at the break but rallied back in the second half to take the lead. Trailing by 10 in the second half at 42-32, the Bluejays opened up a 19-7 run to take a 51-49 lead. The two teams traded buckets with the score being knotted at 55-55 with 7:30 to play.
Albion built a three-point advantage on a Brandon Crawford bucket with 3:21 to play. A pair of free throws by Chris Martin (Eureka-H.S.) pulled the Bluejays to within a point at 2:29 to play. A 3-pointer by Mike Bailey put Albion up by four and the Brittons were able to seal the game from the free throw line.
The shooting from both teams was almost dead even. Elmhurst hit 49 percent of its shots (24-of-49) from the floor while the Brittons shot 48.9 percent on 22-of-45 shooting. From beyond the arc, Elmhurst shot 26.7 percent (4-of-15) while Albion finished at 28.6 percent (4-of-14).
Albion hit 92.9 percent of its free throw attempts (26-of-28) to but the game away. Elmhurst converted 14-of-18 from the free throw line (77.8 percent). The Brittons owned a distinct advantage on the glass, outrebounding the Bluejays 32-16.
Martin led the Blueajys in the loss with 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Robert Strzemp (Oak Park/Oak Park-River Forest) added nine points. Dave Gershenzon (Glenview-Glenbrook South) and Pat Bacon (Orlando, Fla.-Olympia) each came off the bench to score seven points.
Brandon Crawford led Albion with a double-double; scoring 21 points (12-of-15 shooting) and grabbing 11 rebounds. Mike Bailey added 14 points and Zak Silas finished with nine points.
The Bluejays concluded the non-conference season at 8-3, the same record they had at this point from the 2004-05 season. Elmhurst opens CCIW play on Saturday, January 4, when they host Millikin University.
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