Kenosha, Wis. (12/2) — In the second day of the CCIW-MIAA Classic, Wheaton faced off against the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College, ranked fifth in the most recent D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll. Wheaton defeated the Flying Dutchmen 73-70. Wheaton came into the game off of a 73-62 win over Calvin College on Friday; Hope entered the competition after losing to tournament host Carthage College the night before.

Hope kept a lead throughout most of the first half, as the Thunder were unable to manage the full-court pressure posed by the Hope defense.  Hope led by as much as nine points in the half, however, the Thunder handled the press in the final minutes and closed to within six points of the Flying Dutchmen for a 43-37 Hope lead at halftime. Hope's Jesse Reimink shot 5-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to lead the Flying Dutchmen with 14 points in the first half.

At the half, Wheaton and Hope had similar field goal percentages, with a 55% (11-20) for the Thunder and 58% (17-29) for Hope. The Thunder bench played a strong first half, as junior Jeff McKay had five points in six minutes on the floor, and Matt Ankeny played 11 minutes.

Wheaton came out strong after the intermission; tying the game only three minutes into the second half; The Thunder took a 50-49 lead briefly with sixteen minutes to play.  From that point on, it was back-and-forth between the two teams, Hope eventually gained a six-point lead with just under 5:00 left to play.  The final three minutes were exhilarating, as Wheaton closed the Hope lead to 67-66 with just under three minutes to play.

The battle for the lead continued on the next possession when a basket by Andy Wiele surpassed his career points total and gave Wheaton a one-point lead.  Hope took possession of the ball with two minutes left, but the Thunder defense forced a long three by Hope's Marcus Vanderhide and Johnnie Standard grabbed the rebound.  Senior Michael Fiddler finished the play by netting two and the Thunder went up by three points at70-67.  With just under a minute left, Ben Panner tipped Stephen Cramer's shot and the Thunder had possession with 51.5-seconds remaining.  Wiele again netted two points and Wheaton was up by five with a 72-67 lead, with 24-seconds left.  Vanderhide made a quick three-pointer immediately following, taking the Flying Dutchmen to within two, 72-70.  On the inbounds play, Hope was forced to foul Fiddler, who made the front end of the double-bonus, and the Flying Dutchmen regained possession with Wheaton leading 73-70 and 2.1-seconds on the clock. Following a timeout, Ryan Klein took a long three as time expired, but he was unsuccessful and Wheaton completed the victory, 73-70.

Wiele was a force in the second half, netting 24 points and nine rebounds.The sophomore tallied 25 points and 14 rebounds in the game. He was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.  Head Coach Bill Harris was thrilled with his center's play, “I told Wiele he needed to start playing like he could, and tonight, he came out and did it.”  Raymond added 17 points, with three-three-pointers. Standard, a senior co-captain, netted 13 points, with seven rebounds.  The team finished the game 22-for-28 from the line with 79%, shooting 49% (22-45) from the field, and 41% (7-17) from beyond the three-point line.

Hope's second-half shooting percentage was 37% (10-27); with a 1-for-9 effort from beyond three-point range, thanks in part to Wheaton's solid second-half defense.  Three Hope players, Reimink, Vanderhide, and Cramer, finished the game scoring in double-digits.  Reimink led the team in rebounds with nine, Steven Kratz added three boards. 

Harris was pleased with his team's play, especially the team's defense in the second half.  “In the first half when we could have let the horse out of the barn, we only let the horse kick the door open” He added, “in the second half, we kept the horse in the barn and put him back in the stall.”  Harris concluded, “In 20 hours, on a neutral floor, we beat two top-ten teams. I'm thrilled!”