Wheaton, Ill. (2/15) - The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team was an 83-72 victor at home against Millikin (9-14/2-10) on Thursday night. With the win, Wheaton improves to 16-7 overall and 8-4 in the CCIW. Prior to tonight's game, the final home contest of the regular season, Wheaton honored seniors
Johnnie Standard and
Michael Fiddler.
The Thunder is now tied with Elmhurst for second place in the CCIW standing with identical 8-4 league records.
Millikin led the Thunder 25-16 with 9:45 left to play in the first half. Wheaton put together a 27-7 scoring run to take a 38-32 lead with 4:15 remaining before halftime and the Thunder never trailed from that point on. The hosts led the Big Blue 50-39 at halftime. Standard was a big reason for Wheaton's lead with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. Wheaton continued to extend its lead throughout the second half, with the hosts' biggest margin of the game coming in the form of a 21-point advantage at 69-48 with 12:55 remaining in the game. Millikin did cut the Wheaton lead to nine points at 81-72 with 1:06 left in the game; however, the Big could never get closer.
Standard established new career highs of 24 points and 13 rebounds, including nine offensive boards. All-American
Kent Raymond scored 23 points, with four three-point field goals. Freshman
Ben Panner scored 13 points, with five rebounds and three assists. Junior
John Mohan contributed 12 points, with four field goals from behind the three-point arch. Mohan also distributed six assists with three steals. Fiddler added seven points on the night.
Charles Warren led the Big Blue with 17 points and five rebounds. Joscar Demby added 14 points for the Big Blue. Zach Ott scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field. Korte Long and Keanon Harrington each scored 10 points for the guests.
Wheaton shot 46% (29-63) from the field, with a 50% (11-22) effort from three-point range and 82.4% (14-17) at the free throw line. Millikin recorded a 70.8% (17-24) field goal percentage in the first half and had a 56.9% (29-51) effort from the field for the game. The Thunder out-rebounded Millikin 34-28, including a 17-9 edge on the offensive glass.
