BOXSCORE

Decatur, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team picked up its third consecutive victory on Wednesday night, with a 50-45 victory at Millikin University. Wheaton has won five of its last six games and is now 13-5 this season, with a 5-2 conference record. Millikin drops to 6-12 overall and 1-6 in CCIW play.

Millikin led the Thunder 25-20 at halftime. The Big Blue led 36-30 with 12:30 remaining in regulation, when Wheaton put together a 13-2 scoring run to give the Thunder its first lead of the second half at 43-38. The Big Blue battled back to cut Wheaton's lead to 43-42 with 3:09 left in regulation when Millikin's Joscar Demby made two free throws. Wheaton secured the victory by shooting 7-for-8 at the free throw line in the final 2:10 of the game.

Thunder sophomore Tim McCrary led Wheaton with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Tonight's effort marked the fifth consecutive game and eighth time this season that McCrary has registered a “double-double” with double digits in both points and rebounds in a game. McCrary added three blocked shots, with two assists and two steals for the Thunder. Junior guard Andrew Jahns scored 10 points, with four steals. Senior Ben Panner (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 10 points on the night, and John Shackelford scored nine points, with three assists.

Colby Long led Millikin with 18 points and two steals. Devin Demby grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Big Blue.

The Thunder shot for a 27.8% (15-54) field goal percentage in the game, with 21.4% (3-14) from the three-point range and 70.8% (17-24) at the free throw line. Millikin shot 34.7% (17-49) from the floor, with 36.4% (4-11) from behind the three-point arc and 100% (7-7) at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded Millikin 39-31, with an 18-11 edge on the offensive glass.

Wheaton will return to action on Saturday night with a 7:30 PM tipoff at North Central College.