BOXSCORE
Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton College men’s basketball team, ranked 14th this week by D3hoops.com, was a 67-64 victor against conference foe North Central College on Saturday in Wheaton’s King Arena. Wheaton is now 9-4 on the season, with a 1-1 record in league play. North Central is 7-6 this season with an 0-2 record in CCIW action. The Thunder will host Augustana on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM. Wednesday’s game will be broadcast on WETN radio and television, with online video of the contest at
www.wetn.org.
Wheaton led 40-30 at halftime of today’s meeting with the Cardinals. Wheaton maintained a solid lead for much of the early portion of the second half. The Thunder led by 11 points, its largest lead of the game, with a 58-47 advantage with 9:10 remaining in the game. However, North Central chipped away at the hosts’ lead using a 12-3 scoring run to trim Wheaton’s advantage to 61-59 with 4:40 left in the game.
Wheaton senior
Ben Panner made a basket with 3:35 left in the game to extend his team’s advantage to 63-59. North Central’s
Jon Knapczyk converted a layup with 3:15 remaining in the game and Cardinal freshman
Derek Raridon made a three-pointer with 1:40 left in the contest to give North Central its first lead since the opening minutes of the first half. On the next possession, Panner scooped in a basket to give Wheaton a 65-64 lead with 1:02 remaining in the game. Wheaton head coach
Mike Schauer noted after the game of Panner’s crucial basket, “Ben made a very difficult shot. He really bailed us out there.”
Tim McCrary scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field
Strong Wheaton defense on North Central’s ensuing possession allowed Wheaton to get the ball back with 17-seconds left in the contest as the Cardinals were forced to foul Wheaton junior
Andrew Jahns who made both of his shots at the line. North Central was only able to get one three-pointer up on its ensuing possession, a three-point attempt by the Cardinals was no good and Jahns collected the rebound as time expired as Wheaton earned the victory.
Panner led all players with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. Thunder sophomore
Tim McCrary scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. The forward also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Schauer noted of the tandem of Panner and McCrary, “They really carried us. The second half was discombobulated at times because they both spent considerable time next to each other on the bench with foul problems. But, I was pleased with the effort of our team while Ben and Tim were on the bench.”
Junior
John Shackelford collected a team-best seven rebounds, while sophomore forward
Spencer Schultze grabbed six boards. Senior
David Eseke scored eight points, with two steals.
Jake Carwell scored six points, with four rebounds and four assists
Derek Raridon led North Central with 19 points and David Twyman added 17 points, with five rebounds. Knapczyk scored 11 points and
Reid Barringer scored seven points, with five assists.
Wheaton shot 49% (25-51) from the field, with 28.6% (4-14) from three-point range, with 76.5% (13-17) from the free throw line. North Central tallied a 43.2% (19-44) field goal percentage in the game. The Cardinals shot a strong 55.6% (10-18) from the floor in the first half; however, in the second half the Cardinals shot just 34.6% (9-26) after halftime. Wheaton out-rebounded the Cardinals 31-28 in the game; however the Cardinals had an 8-7 edge on the offensive glass.
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