BOXSCORE

Richardson, Texas – The Wheaton men's basketball team lost at University of University of Texas at Dallas 63-62 on Saturday night in a NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament Second Round game. Wheaton ends the season with a 19-9 record. Texas-Dallas is now 23-5 and advances to the Sectional Round of the tournament next weekend.

Wheaton led for most of the first half, with its largest lead being a nine-point advantage at 25-16 with 9:41 remaining at halftime. The Comets countered with seven unanswered points to cut Wheaton's lead to 25-23 with 6:50 left in the first half. Texas-Dallas took its first lead of the game at 33-31 with 1:11 left before halftime and the Comets held a 33-32 advantage at the intermission.

Texas-Dallas led for much of the second half, with the Comets' biggest lead of the game coming at 58-52 with 4:06 left in the game. Wheaton out-scored the comets with a 10-3 run, culminating with a seven-foot basket by senior Ben Panner that gave the Thunder a 62-61 lead with 37-seconds left in the game. Dallas' Jordan Eppink made a shot in front of the basket with six-seconds left to give the hosts a 63-62 lead. Wheaton in-bounded the ball and UT-Dallas intercepted the pass and ran out the clock to secure the victory.

Thunder head coach Mike Schauer said of his team in tonight's one-point loss, “In the locker room after the game tonight, I described our team as Rocky Balboa. We had a team this year that knew that the way it was going to win games was to keep battling and get up off the mat and keep battling and we did that over and over this year. Tonight was an example of that, unfortunately they [Texas-Dallas] made one more play.”

Panner closed out his tremendous Wheaton career with 15 points against the Comets. Junior John Shackelford made five three-pointers in scoring 15 points for the Thunder. Tim McCrary scored 11 points, with nine rebounds and five assists. Andrew Jahns scored 10 points, with three assists.

Chris Barnes led five Texas-Dallas players that scored in double digits with 14 points and three steals.
Wheaton shot 53.3% (24-45) from the field, with 39.1% (9-23) from three-point range and 71.4% (5-7) at the free throw line. The Comets registered a 53.3% (24-45) field goal percentage, with 36.4% (4-10) from three-point range and 73.3% (11-15) at the free throw line. Wheaton out-rebounded the Comets 23-21 on the night.

Panner closes out his career in 12th place on Wheaton's all-time scoring list with 1,499 career points. He is also seventh in school history with 179 career three-pointers and ninth on Wheaton's all-time assists list with 282. Schauer noted of the four-year starter who played in every game through his Thunder career, “Ben is a special player. I believe that Ben is on a very small list of guys that have played at Wheaton that combine a fierce competitiveness with a truly humble spirit. He may do that better than any player I have coached.”

Schauer concludes his first season as head coach of his alma mater with 19 victories, the most ever by a first-year head coach for the school's men's basketball program.