GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Tim McCrary led Wheaton with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the CCIW Tournament for the second time in school history, with a 69-56 win against Illinois Wesleyan in the CCIW Semifinal on Friday night. Wheaton is now 21-5 on the year, while the Titans fall to 19-7.
The second-seeded Thunder will play top-seed North Central in the CCIW Championship Game on Saturday night at 7:30 PM in North Central's Merner Fieldhouse
(SEE TICKET INFORMATION). The Cardinals defeated Augustana 63-56 in Friday's other semifinal. The winner of the CCIW Tournament Championship Game will earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, which begins next week.
The Thunder jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. The Titans kept within seven points of the Thunder for much of the next 10 minutes, the last seven-point lead for the Thunder was at 17-10 with 12:25 left in the opening half. Wheaton extended its lead to 23-10 with 8:35 left in the first thanks to six unanswered points. Wheaton's largest lead of the opening half was a 17-point bulge at 38-24 late in the first half. The Thunder led 38-24 at halftime.
The Thunder maintained a lead throughout the second half, however, the Titans closed to within four points in a 54-50 Wheaton lead with 4:40 remaining in the game. Thunder senior
Jeremy Pflederer drained a big three-pointer to extend Wheaton leads back to seven points at 57-50 with 4:15 left in regulation. The Titans could get no closer as the Thunder emerged with the 69-56 victory.
Senior
Tim McCrary led Wheaton with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The All-American also distributed four assists, with three blocked shots. Sophomore
Tyler Peters (PICTURED LEFT) scored 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.
Spencer Schultze (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 14 points, with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Pflederer rounded out Wheaton's double-digit scorers with 11 points and adding three assists.
Jordan Zimmer led the Titans with 17 points. Andrew Ziemnik scored nine points off the Illinois Wesleyan bench.
Wheaton shot 51% (26-51) from the field tonight, including a blistering 68% (17-25) in the first half. Wheaton shot 38.5% (5-13) from three-point range in the game and 50% (12-24) at the charity stripe. Illinois Wesleyan shot 30.4% (17-56) from the floor, with 15.8% (3-19) from behind the three-point arc and 73.1% (19-26) at the free throw line. The Thunder out-rebounded IWU 42-35 and 10 Titan turnovers helped lead the Thunder to a 10-3 advantage in points off of turnovers.
CHAMPIONSHIP LIVESTATS --
SATURDAY VIDEO --
SATURDAY AUDIO
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets will be available on game day on a first come, first serve basis and will be available for purchase starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
$6.00 - adults
$3.00 - seniors and students
Children eight-years-old and under will be admitted for free
Students with valid CCIW school ID shall be admitted free of charge
PLEASE NOTE: No CCIW Parents passes or any other season passes will be accepted at this CCIW Championship event.
