BOXSCORE
Decatur, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team earned a 65-56 win at Millikin University (9-15/2-11 CCIW) on Wednesday night. Wheaton is now 18-6 overall and 8-5 in league play following the victory against the Big Blue. Tonight's win assured Wheaton a spot in next week's four-team CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. The Thunder will close out the regular season on Saturday night in a 7:30 PM tipoff at home against Elmhurst.
Millikin jumped out to a 22-9 lead with 11:56 remaining in the first half of tonight's game. The Thunder countered with a 22-5 run to take a 31-27 lead with 3:00 left in the first half. Wheaton held a 33-31 lead at halftime.
Much of the second half was a tightly contested battle, with the score tied or changing hands 10 times. Millikin led 51-46 with 5:15 left in regulation when the Thunder put together a run to out-score the hosts 16-1 over a span of 4:20 to give Wheaton a 62-52 lead with 55-seconds remaining in regulation. Center Andy Wiele and All-American guard Kent Raymond (PICTURED LEFT) combined to score 12 of Wheaton's 16 points in the critical run that secured the Thunder victory.
Raymond led the Thunder with a game-high 25 points and he added six rebounds, with three steals. Wiele (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 21 points, with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in a strong effort for the Thunder center. Ben Panner added eight points, with four assists. Jacob Carwell scored six points and freshman Andrew Jahns contributed five points.
With tonight's effort Raymond moved into 16th place on Wheaton's all-time scoring list with 1,467 career points. He entered tonight's game in 20th place on the scoring list with 1,442 points and passed four Wheaton all-time greats in the process of tonight's game: Nate Frank (1991-95) 1,446 points; Bill Harbeck (1973-77) 1,458 points, Steve Haugen (1973-77) 1,459 points; Donn Nelson (1982-86) 1,460 points.
Tunde Ogunlye led Millikin with 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Zach Ott came off the Big Blue bench to score 11 points for the hosts.
The Thunder shot 49% (25-51) from the field, with 28.6% (2-7) from three-point range and 81.3% (13-16) at the free throw line. Millikin posted a 41.5% (22-53) field goal percentage, with 38.9% (7-18) from behind the three-point arc and 62.5% (5-8) at the charity stripe. Millikin out-rebounded the Thunder 31-27, with a 7-2 advantage on the offensive glass.
Wheaton and Elmhurst will each enter King Arena for Saturday night's game tied for third place in the conference at 8-5. The winner of Saturday's contest will earn the number-three seed in next weekend's tournament, while the losing team will be seeded fourth. The CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament will begin with the semifinals on Feb. 29 and conclude with the tournament finals on March 1 in Rock Island, Illinois. Augustana has earned the right to host the tournament by earning at least a share of the CCIW Championship with an 83-68 win against second-place Illinois Wesleyan in Rock Island tonight.
