ELMHURST, Il. – A 20-point halftime deficit proved to a mountain too high to climb for the Calvin men's basketball team as the Knights fell to a hot-shooting Elmhurst team 84-80 Friday night.
Calvin trailed 44-24 at halftime but punched its way back into the game by scoring the first eight points of the second half and gradually whittled the gap down to six points at 69-63 with 4:43 remaining.

Elmhurst (9-4) held off Calvin (8-3 overall) down the stretch with free throw shooting with the Knights scoring five points in the final 10 seconds to slice the final margin down to four points.
Elmhurst gained the early momentum by nailing three triples to grab a 13-4 lead just four-and-a-half minutes in the contest. The Blue Jay lead ballooned into a 24-6 advantage midway through the half and widened to 20 at the break.

Calvin shot just 33.3 percent from the field in the first half while Elmhurst shot 55.2 percent including 58.3 percent (7 of 12) from three-point range.

Calvin upped the defensive intensity and the tempo in the second half to chip away into the deficit.

The Knights still trailed 63-43 with 11:49 left in regulation but used an 18-5 run over the next eight minutes to make it a 68-61 game. A hanging jumper in the lane by junior Uchenna Egekeze (Huntley, Il./Huntley HS with 4:43 left brought the Knights within six but the Knights got no closer until the closing seconds.

Egekeze finished the game with a career-high 25 points along with eight rebounds, six steals, two blocks and one assist.

Junior Marcus Bult (Wheaton, Il./Wheaton Academy) dropped in 15 points and grabbed five boards while freshman Jalen Overway (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian HS) tallied 13 points and six boards. Freshman Owen Varnado () added nine points while sophomore Logan VanEssen (Crown Point, Ind./Illiana Christian HS) chipped in with eight points off the bench.

Calvin finished the game shooting 45.7 percent from the floor including 56.8 percent in the second half. Elmhurst shot 48.1 percent overall.

The Blue Jays were able to win the free throw shooting game, converting 24 of 31 (.774) at the charity stripe while Calvin was 11 of 15 (.733) at the free throw line.

NEXT UP: Calvin will host Albion next Wednesday at 8 p.m. in its MIAA opener as part of a doubleheader with the Calvin women taking on the Albion women's team in the early game at 6 p.m.