PICTURED: T.J. Cobbs

In what was shaping up to be an upset victory for the Vikings Wednesday night turned into a nightmare result as Elmhurst College escaped with an 89-84 triumph over the hosts in CCIW action.

North Park led for nearly half the contest, but the Bluejays turned up their offense just at the right time to keep pace atop the conference standings in earning their 20th win of the season.

The Vikings held a 49-41 lead after Colin Lake buried a three-pointer with 14:11 remaining in the contest and later 56-48 on a three-point play from Armahn Mooring, but Elmhurst used a 15-7 scoring run to tie the game at 63-63 on a lay-up from Erik Crittenden at the 6:33 mark. NP did move ahead 73-72 on a three from Jordan Robinson with just under four minutes left, but the Vikings never saw the lead thereafter as Elmhurst pieced together an 11-3 spurt to seize an 83-76 advantage.

NP fell behind 6-0 early after three quick Elmhurst baskets in the opening two minutes, but the Vikings regrouped and used a 12-2 clip to stake a 12-8 lead after a three-pointer from Michael Hutchinson with 13:02 left. North Park led 32-31 at halftime.

Henry finished with a game-high 29 points on 8 of 16 shooting while both Robinson and Hutchinson added 13 points each. Lake connected for a pair of three-pointers and tallied six points while both Darius Brown and Joe Biko each had five points. T.J. Cobbs dished out seven assists as well. Kyle Wuest led Elmhurst with 24 points.

North Park (14-9, 6-6) returns to action Saturday night when it travels to Illinois Wesleyan for a 7 p.m. contest.