GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Caleb DeMoss scored a career high 20 points for Wheaton in its 84-80 loss at #9-WashU.

St. Louis, Mo.- The #24-ranked Wheaton men's basketball dropped its final nonconference contest of the season 84-80 at #9-ranked Washington (Mo.) University on Thursday night. The loss drops Wheaton to 7-4 while the Bears of WashU improved to 8-2 on the season. Wheaton will open conference play on Saturday night at Millikin University.

Wheaton shot 28-59 (47.5%) from the field and was a red-hot 14-29 (48.3%) from the three-point line while also shooting 10-12 (83.3%) from the free throw line. WashU shot 29-60 (48.3%) and 8-19 (42.1%) from the three-point line. The Bears shot 18-23 (78.3%) from the charity stripe.

Wheaton jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening minute in a half and held the lead throughout the first six minutes before the Bears climbed back to tie the game at 11 with 14:23 left in the first half. The teams traded leads with several times with neither team leading by more than four points until a pair of free throws by Chris Klimek gave WashU a 39-33 lead with 58 seconds to play. Caleb DeMoss answered with the last of his five first half three-pointers to cut the lead down to 40-36 at the halftime break. DeMoss was 5-6 from the three-point line in the first half.

Wheaton started the second half on a quick scoring spurt and a three-pointer and breakaway lay-up gave Wheaton a 45-42 lead just three minutes into the second half.

The game remained close for the next 11 minutes as neither team could pull ahead by more than three points until Michael Berg (PICTURED RIGHT) ran off five straight points to give Wheaton a 68-64 lead with 6:31 remaining. The Bears answered immediately with two big three-pointers from Matt Palucki that spurred a 10-0 run that gave the Bears the game's biggest lead at 74-68 at the 3:44 mark.

The Thunder chipped away and finally a three-pointer and lay-up by Peter Smith tied the game at 78 apiece with 1:18 left. On the ensuing possession, WashU's Alan Aboona was fouled on a three-point and converted all three tosses to give the Bears the lead for good and push the Bears to the 84-80 victory.

DeMoss led the Thunder with 20 points including 6-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Tyler Peters registered a 'double-double' with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Michael Berg scored 12 points and Nate Haynes also had a 'double-double' with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Klimek led all scorers on the night wtih 34 points for the Bears. Palucki finished with 16 and Aboona finished with 10 points and 10 assists.

Wheaton will kickoff its conference schedule on Saturday when the Thunder take on the Millikin Big Blue in Decatur at 7 PM.