BOXSCORE

Wheaton, Ill. – The top-ranked Wheaton College men's basketball team remained undefeated with a hard-fought 74-70 win against #19-Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night in Wheaton's King Arena. Thunder All-American Kent Raymond led all scorers with 38 points, including 22 points in the second half. Wheaton improves to 12-0 on the year and opens CCIW play at 1-0. Illinois Wesleyan is now 8-4 overall and 0-1 in league action.

Illinois Wesleyan came out to an early lead in tonight's contest as the Titans held a 22-9 advantage with 10:58 remaining in the first half. The Titans led by 11 at 26-15 with 5:30 left in the opening half when the Thunder put together a 15-3 run to close out the half as the hosts held a 30-29 lead at intermission. Raymond scored 12 of Wheaton's 15 points in the run to give him 16 first-half points.

Wheaton out-scored the Titans 11-4 over the first 4:05 of the second half to give the Thunder a 41-33 advantage with 15:55 left in regulation. The Titans put together a 17-4 surge, which saw Doug Sexauer score nine points, as Illinois Wesleyan held a 52-45 lead with 9:52 remaining in regulation. Wheaton closed the Titans' lead to one point at 56-55 with 6:38 left in the game. The guests remained holding a narrow lead for about the next two-and-a-half minutes.

The Titans led 62-59 with 3:55 left in the game when a Raymond layup cut the guests' lead to 62-61. Raymond's basket was the first of seven un-answered points by the All-American as he extended Wheaton's lead to 66-62 with 2:00 remaining. Jake Carwell (PICTURED RIGHT) made a free throw with 1:51 left to give the Thunder a 67-62 lead. Illinois Wesleyan's Sean Johnson converted a three-point play with 1:38 remaining in the game to cut Wheaton's lead to 67-65. Thunder junior Ben Panner made a basket with 1:06 left in the game for a 69-65 Wheaton lead. On the Titans' ensuing trip down the court the guests missed a field goal and the key rebound was gathered by Carwell, as the Titans were forced to begin fouling Wheaton. Wheaton was 5-for-6 at the charity stripe in the final 30-seconds to secure the win against nationally-ranked Titans.

Tonight's game was Wheaton's first action since earning the number-one ranking in the most recent D3hoops.com Top-25 poll. Thunder head coach Bill Harris noted afterwards, “I think the pressure of being number-one may have had something to do with our slow start tonight. It's a credit to our team that they fought through that and played well. Several of our veteran players gave us big games tonight.” He added, “Raymond was special tonight. What made his effort so incredible was that Illinois Wesleyan was so focused on him defensively and he still had that kind of night. He just put us on his back in this game.” Harris concluded, “Ben Panner had a strong game, he was very good defensively and Jake Carwell also played really well.”

Raymond was 12-of-23 from the field, with a 12-for-13 effort at the free throw line to collect his 38 points tonight. Tonight was the fourth-highest single-game scoring total in Raymond's career. Panner (PICTURED LEFT) scored 13 points, with two assists and his trademark stellar defense. Carwell scored eight points, with six rebounds and three steals. Freshman Phil Carr scored a career-high seven points, with three rebounds.

Sexauer led five Titans who scored in double digits with 15 points and eight rebounds. Johnson scored 13 points, while Travis Rosenkranz added 12 points with three assists. Brett Chamernik scored 11 points, with seven rebounds and Edmond O'Callaghan scored 11 points with eight rebounds.

Wheaton shot 49% (25-51) from the field, including 56.5% (13-23) in the second half. The Thunder posted a 33.3% (3-9) three-point field goal percentage, with 80.8% (21-26) at the free throw line. Illinois Wesleyan recorded a 46.7% (28-60) field goal percentage, with 30.8% (4-13) from three-point range and 71.4% (10-14) at the free throw line. The Titans out-rebounded the Thunder 36-24, with a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass. Wheaton capitalized on the Titans' 17 turnovers as the Thunder out-scored the guests 22-8 off of turnovers.

Wheaton will travel to North Park on Saturday for a 7:30 PM tipoff against the Vikings. Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM in the Wheaton area and on the internet at www.wetn.org. Live in-game statistics of the game will also be available online, courtesy of North Park athletics.