GAME STATS BOXSCORE
PICTURED ABOVE: Jeremy Pflederer led Wheaton with 13 points
Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton College men's basketball team lost 75-58 to top-seeded North Central College on Saturday night in the CCIW Men's Basketball Championship. Wheaton is 21-6 on the year, while North Central improves to 20-7.
North Central wins the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, with the tournament title. Wheaton is a strong at-large candidate for the NCAA tournament and will wait to see if it is included in the tournament bracket when it is announced by the NCAA at 11 AM (CST) on
www.ncaa.com.
Senior guard
Jeremy Pflederer led Wheaton with 13 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Sophomore
Tyler Peters (PICTURED LEFT) contributed 12 points, with four assists.
Tim McCrary added 11 points and four steals, while senior forward
Spencer Schultze (PICTURED RIGHT) scored 10 points.
The two teams opened the game in a back-and-forth affair as the both squads never got a lead larger than four points over the first 10:00 of the game. Wheaton led 14-10 with 14:35 remaining in the first half, when the Cardinals responded with a 12-2 run to take a 22-16 lead with 10:00 remaining in the game. North Central continued to maintain a lead over the next seven minutes of the opening half. North Central led 27-20 with 4:35 left in the first half when the Thunder responded with nine un-answered points to take a 29-27 lead with 2:40 remaining in the first half. The two teams were tied 31-31 at halftime.
North Central jumped out to a 43-37 lead in first six minutes of the second half. The Cardinals increased their lead to 53-40 with 11:00 left in regulation and held a 62-42 lead with 8:45 remaining. The Cardinals maintained a double-digit lead in the second half to secure the win and the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.
Kevin Gillespie led North Central with 22 points and five assists. Aaron Tiknis scored 11 points, with nine rebounds and Charlie Rosenberg scored 10 points with eight rebounds.
Wheaton shot 44% (22-50) from the field, with 35.7% (5-14) from three-point range and 64.3% (9-14) at the free throw line. North Central posted a 51% (26-51) field goal percentage, with 42.9% (9-21) from behind the three-point arc and 73.7% (14-19) at the charity stripe. North Central out-rebounded the Thunder 36-21, with an 11-4 edge on the offensive glass.
