MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Peregrine freshman Joey Elabed (Morton) drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to close a valiant effort by the underdogs, but it was one-point short of sending the game to overtime. Third-seeded Cardinal Stritch University survived an opening round upset in a 74-73 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference playoff victory.

With 46 seconds left, sophomore guard Antonio McNeal (Gavit) penetrated the lane and found junior forward Charles Cruz (Gavit) alone at the 3-point stripe and flipped the ball to Cruz who splashed in a 3-pointer giving the Peregines a 70-69 lead.

After a Wolves timeout, Spencer Peck hit a 3-pointer giving the home team a 72-70 lead with 22 seconds to play. The Peregrines called a timeout to setup a final shot that missed with nine seconds left. Stritch’s Chad Dekker grabbed the rebound and passed to teammate Stephen Sorensen who hit a 12-foot jumper for the winning basket with four seconds left setting up Elabed’s final shot.

A pair of Peregrines finished with game-high scoring honors with 15 points. Cruz hit 53 percent from the field, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals, while freshman Justin Latimore (Indianapolis North Central) hit 55 percent of his shots from the field, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists in the loss.

Freshman Michael Patton (West Side) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, scored 13 points and had the team’s only two shot blocks. McNeal scored 11 points, including 7-of-9 from the charity stripe, and had three assists and two steals.

The Peregrines trailed 39-24 at the half allowing the Wolves to hit 57 percent of their shots from the field contributing to the 15-point deficit. But in the second half, the Peregrines were 15-of-29 from the field, including five 3-pointers, leading to a 49-point half.

Chipping in to the 15-point deficit, the Peregrines tied the game at 67-67 when Cruz hit a jumper with 1:20 to play. Cruz later gave the Peregrines their only lead of the second half on his 3-pointer with under one minute left.

The Peregrines forced eight turnovers in the second half scoring 23 points helping to close the gap. They shot 51 percent from the field, 50 from the 3-point arc and 73 percent from the foul line in the second 20 minutes.