Box Score
St. Louis, Mo. - The last time Wheaton College and Washington (Mo.) University played each other, it was last season's NCAA Division III Tournament, and the game came down to the final seconds.
The two teams picked up the script right where they left off and delivered another nail-biter that was equally close. In the end, the visiting Wheaton men's basketball team lost 64-62 at Washington on Wednesday.
The
No. 8-ranked Thunder fell to 5-2 on the season. The
No. 1-ranked Bears improved to 6-0.
Wheaton shook off a slow start in the early going and went on a 15-2 run to stake itself to a 17-11 lead. Despite an 8-4 Bears run to finish the half, the Thunder took a 25-22 lead into the locker room.
The second half saw a lot more offense as the Thunder and the Bears combined to shoot 32 of 58 (55 percent) from the field in the second half. The battle for the lead continued back and forth, as the lead changed five times and the score was tied four times as each team exchanged runs.
Washington's Spencer Gay came off the bench and came up big by scoring 12 of the team's 14 points in one stretch to turn a 44-40 deficit into a 54-49 lead.
The visitors recaptured the lead on a three-pointer by
Andrew Jahns to make it 58-56, and
Tim McCrary sunk two free throws to give Wheaton its final lead of the night 60-58 with 52 seconds left in the game. But Sean Wallis tied the score with a layup soon after and the Bears made four free throws in the final 20 seconds to hold on. The Thunder missed three shots in that span as
Jake Carwell's layup at the buzzer accounted for the final points.
The Thunder finished the game shooting 26 of 56 (46 percent) from the field, 4 of 14 (28 percent) from three-point range, and 6 of 7 (86 percent) from the free throw line. McCrary led the offense with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Ben Panner added 13 points and Jahns scored 12.
The Bears shot 26 of 50 (52 percent) from the field, 4 of 16 (25 percent) from beyond the arc and 8 of 10 (80 percent) from the charity stripe. Aaron Thompson led the way with 19 points and Gay scored 14 points with three blocks in 13 minutes on the floor. Sean Wallis dished out 14 assists.
Wheaton returns to action at 7:30 PM on Saturday with a home game against Grinnell College.
