Kenosha, Wis. (2/21) – The postseason effectively started on Wednesday night for the Thunder men's basketball team in a 61-59 win at Carthage (16-9/7-7 CCIW). With tonight's victory Wheaton earns the number-three seed in this weekend's CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament in Rock Island, Illinois. The winner of tonight's game was assured a berth into the CCIW Tournament, while the loser would have its season ended. Thunder head coach Bill Harris said of his team, “I was really proud of how we played tonight and how our kids battled with so much on the line.”

The Thunder improves to 17-8 overall and 9-5 in the CCIW. The Thunder will face second-seeded Elmhurst at 6 PM in the first semifinal in the CCIW Tournament on Friday night. The second semifinal will follow with fourth-seeded North Central at top-seeded Augustana.

All-American Kent Raymond led the Thunder with 15 points, including the game-winning basket with two-and-a-half seconds left in regulation to break a 59-59 tie. Raymond slashed to the basket to put the guests ahead and Carthage missed a game-winning shot as time expired. Raymond also led the Thunder with four assists

Senior Johnnie Standard scored nine points, with four rebounds. Michael Fiddler, Andy Wiele, Ben Panner and John Mohan each added eight points for the balanced Thunder offense. Wiele collected a game-high seven rebounds and Fiddler added five boards. Trey Bowens scored 20 points for Carthage. Neb Franciskovic scored 13 points and freshman Sean Fendley added 12 points for the Red Men.

Wheaton shot 42% (21-50) from the field, with a 34.8% (8-23) effort from three-point range and 78.6% (11-14) from the free throw line. Carthage posted a 46.8% (22-47) field goal percentage, with 31.3% (5-16) from three-point range and 76.9% (10-13) from the free throw line. Wheaton out-rebounded the Red Men 32-25, with a 12-7 edge on the offensive glass. Wheaton's effort on the offensive glass helped the Thunder to a 10-4 edge on the in second-chance points.

The Thunder led Carthage 27-22 at halftime. The Red Men out-scored the Thunder 9-4 over the first 5:40 of the second half to take a 33-31 lead with 13:20 left in regulation. Wheaton led the Red Men for much of the remainder of the second half.

A dunk by Fiddler with 49-seconds left in regulation extended Wheaton's lead to 57-51. Bowens drained a three-pointer to cut the Thunder lead to 57-54 with 39-seconds left in regulation. Standard hit a pair of free throws to give Wheaton a 59-54 lead with 38-seconds left in regulation. Bowens sank another three-pointer to make it a 59-57 Thunder lead with 32-seconds left and then a Thunder turnover gave the Red Men the opportunity to tie. Carthage did just that when Bowens sank a pair of free throws to tie the game at 59-59 with 11-seconds remaining. It was the slashing drive to the basket by Raymond that gave the Thunder the lead and the eventual victory.