BOXSCORE

Rock Island, Ill. – The Thunder men's basketball team lost an 81-78 decision to Illinois Wesleyan on Friday night in the first semifinal of the CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. Wheaton is 19-7 on the year, Illinois Wesleyan advances to the CCIW Tournament Championship Game with a record of 16-10. Illinois Wesleyan led the Thunder 41-38 at halftime of tonight's game. The Titans never trailed in the second half.

Thunder head coach Bill Harris said of tonight's game, “We just didn't get it done tonight. I thought we played hard, we just didn't get it done.”

Kent Raymond led the Thunder with 34 points, including five three-pointers and he grabbed five rebounds. Raymond took over 10th place on Wheaton's all-time scoring list in the game as he now has 1,538 points in his career. He passed the 1,508 career points by Wesley Pitts to move into the 10th-place spot tonight. Raymond also has scored 610 points this season, the eighth-highest single-season total in Wheaton history.

Junior center Andy Wiele (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 14 points, with nine rebounds, including four offensive boards. Freshman guard Andrew Jahns and sophomore Ben Panner each contributed nine points. Jahns added six rebounds and three assists. Sophomore Steve Young scored six points, with five rebounds.

Travis Rosenkranz led the Titans with 20 points, on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, with four assists. Sean Johnson scored 16 points, with a pair of three-pointers. Brett Chamernik scored 12 points for Illinois Wesleyan, with five rebounds.

Wheaton shot 40.6% (26-64) from the field, with 30.4% (7-23) from three-point range and 73.1% (19-26) at the free throw line. Illinois Wesleyan posted a 56.3% (26-47) field goal percentage, with 42.9% (6-14) from three-point range and 71.9% (23-32) from the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Titans 39-27, with a 19-5 edge on the offensive glass.