BOXSCORE
Wheaton, Ill. – The 15th-ranked Wheaton men's basketball team opened its season on Friday night with a 54-39 victory against Trine University in the opening round of the Lee Pfund Classic. McMurry (Texas) defeated Ohio Northern 72-69 in overtime in today's first game
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Wheaton will host McMurry on Saturday night at 8 PM in the Lee Pfund Classic Championship game. Trine will play Ohio Northern at 5:30 PM in the tournament's consolation game.
In tonight's Wheaton victory, the score was tied at 9-9 with 13:13 remaining in the first half when the hosts put together a 16-4 run to take a 25-13 lead with 4:00 left before halftime. Wheaton held a 31-19 lead at halftime.
Trine came out and made two three-point field goals to open the second half, as the guests cut Wheaton's lead to 31-25. Wheaton answered with a 7-0 run to increase its edge to 38-25 with 14:45 remaining in the second half. Wheaton's lead remained a double-digit advantage for the rest of the contest.
Junior guard
Andrew Jahns led all scorers with a game-high 14 points, adding three assists. Sophomore forward
Tim McCrary recorded a “double-double” with 10 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Senior
Ben Panner scored nine points, while sophomore
Aaron Garriott scored seven points.
David Eseke and
Jake Carwell each scored six points, with Carwell adding seven rebounds and four steals. Sophomore guard
Stephen Pierotti distributed a career-high five assists.
Randall Harris led Trine with eight points, while Glenn Alfieri added seven points.
Wheaton shot 38.2% (21-55) from the field, with 31.6% (6-19) from three-point range and 54.5% (6-11) at the free throw line. Trine tallied a 28% (14-50) field goal percentage, with 33.3% (4-12) from three-point range and 70% (7-10) at the free throw line. Each team collected 38 rebounds.
In McMurry's 72-69 overtime win against Ohio Northern, Jeremie Hart led the victors with 20 points and Ricky Burney added 18 points. Kyle Meyer scored 19 points to lead Trine and Taylor Kuhlman added 14 points.
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