BOXSCORE

Kenosha, Wis. - The #7-ranked Wheaton College men's basketball team came through in the closing minutes to earn a 73-69 win at Carthage College (15-9/7-6 CCIW) on Wednesday night. With the win, Wheaton is now 21-3 overall and 10-3 in the CCIW. Wheaton has secured at least a share of the CCIW Championship for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The Thunder enters the regular season finale on Saturday one game ahead of second-place Elmhurst (9-4) in the CCIW standings. Head coach Bill Harris noted after the game, “This is a tremendous team. To earn a conference title in this league, especially with as strong as the CCIW is this season is a great accomplishment. I am very proud of these kids.”

Wheaton heads into the regular season finale with an opportunity to win the conference crown out-right on Saturday night against North Central at 7:30 PM. If Wheaton wins Saturday's game the Thunder will earn the right to host the four-team CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament on Feb. 27-28. Saturday's game will be broadcast on WETN radio at 88.1 FM and on WETN-TV (Channel 72) in the Wheaton area, with streaming video online at www.wetn.org. Live in-game statistics will be available online at this link.

Thunder junior Ben Panner scored a career-high 30 points as he shot 10-of-18 from three-point range. Panner set new Wheaton and CCIW single-game records with 10 three-pointers in the game. “Ben kept hitting big shot after big shot tonight,” noted Harris. He added, “No one deserves it as much as Ben. He works hard and is always called upon for his defense, but it was great to see him do this tonight.”

Tonight's game was a back-and-forth contest that contained nine ties and 20 lead changes. Carthage led the Thunder 33-30 at halftime of the contest. 

Carthage led 65-64 when Panner sank his record-setting 10th three-pointer with 1:00 left in the game to give Wheaton the lead for good with a 67-65 advantage. Carthage missed a basket on its next trip down the court and Thunder center Andy Wiele collected the rebound with 33-seconds, forcing Carthage to foul the guests as Andrew Jahns went to line and made two free throws to extend Wheaton's lead to 69-65. Carthage cut the Thunder lead to 69-67 with 10-seconds, however, Jahns hit two more free throws to give Wheaton a 71-67 lead. The two teams traded baskets in the final five-seconds to account for the 73-69 final score.

“I thought our poise toward the end of the game was very satisfying,” said Harris. The Thunder mentor noted, “We showed a lack of poise in our loss to Carthage at Wheaton and it was good to see that we have improved in that area.” He added, “I thought we gave a good overall team performance tonight.”

Panner's 30 paced the Thunder as he passed the previous Wheaton single-game record of eight three-pointers set by Nate Collord on Feb. 26, 2003. The Thunder guard also passed the CCIW single-game record of nine that was set by Millikins's Brett Andricks against Wheaton in 1991.

Thunder senior Kent Raymond scored 15 points, with five rebounds. Jahns contributed 14 points. Freshman Tim McCrary scored seven points, with seven rebounds and three assists. Andy Wiele collected a game-high eight rebounds, with four assists.

Steve Djurickovic scored 22 points, with 11 assists to lead Carthage. Adam Tolo contributed 13 points and Cody Hilton scored nine points.

Wheaton posted a 42.3% (22-52) field goal percentage, with 40% (12-30) from three-point range and 85% (17-20) at the free throw line. Carthage shot 55.3% (26-47) from the field, with 52.6% (10-19) from behind the three-point arc and 77.6% (7-9) at the free throw line. Wheaton out-rebounded the Red Men 34-21, with a 14-3 edge on the offensive glass.