BOXSCORE

Naperville, Ill. – The Thunder men's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night in an 83-75 loss at North Central. Wheaton is now 10-3 overall and 1-1 in conference action; while North Central is now 5-8 on the year with a 1-1 CCIW record. Wheaton will travel to ninth-ranked Augustana on Wednesday night for a 7:30 PM tipoff with the Vikings.

North Central broke a 12-12 tie with 12:09 left in the first quarter with a 13-4 run to give the hosts a 25-16 lead 8:19 left in the first half The Cardinals shot well in the first half with a 60% (18-30) field goal percentage in the first 20 minutes as the hosts led 42-33 at halftime. The Cardinals led for the entire second half; however, Wheaton cut the North Central lead to four points at 77-73 with 30-seconds left in the game. The hosts secured the victory by shooting 10-for-10 at the free throw line in the final minute of the game.

Freshman Jon DeMoss led the Thunder with 18 points on the evening. Junior All-American Tim McCrary scored 17 points, with nine rebounds and three blocked shots. In the game, McCrary surpassed the 1,000 career point plateau. He now has 1,015 points in his career and was the 41st player in the history of the Wheaton men's basketball program to score at least 1,000 points. Jeremy Pflederer scored 16 points, with three three-point field goals. Senior Andrew Jahns scored 13 points for the guests.

Landon Gamble and Derek Raridon each scored 18 points to lead the Cardinals. CJ Goldthree added 15 points off the North Central bench. Brian Evans was North Central's leading rebounder with eight and Raridon collected seven boards.

Wheaton tallied a 47.9% (23-48) field goal percentage, with 36.4% (8-22) from three-point range and 72.4% (21-29) at the free throw line. North Central shot 49.1% (26-53) from the floor, 1-for-5 from behind the three-point arc and 81.1% (30-37) at the charity stripe. North Central out-rebounded the Thunder 31-29, with a 10-8 edge for the Cardinals on the offensive glass.