GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Nate Haynes had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Thunder in Wheaton's 86-77 win at Elmhurst on Wednesday night.

Elmhurst, Ill.- The Wheaton men's basketball won its third straight game and remained tied atop the CCIW with an 86-77 victory over the Elmhurst Bluejays at R.A. Faganel Hall on Wednesday night. The win is just Wheaton's second win of the year in true road games and keeps Wheaton tied with Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage at 6-2 in CCIW play. Wheaton is now 13-7 overall. Elmhurst falls to 12-7 and 4-4 in conference play.

Wheat shot 44.6% (25-56) from the field and was 7-14 from the three-point stripe. The Thunder shot 29-40 (72.5%) from the free throw line including a 17-24 performance from the charity stripe in the second half. Elmhurst connected on 46.7% (28-60) of its field goal attempts but the Bluejays were just 4-14 (28.6%) from the free throw line and were 17-24 (70.8%) from the charity stripe.

An early Caleb DeMoss three-pointer gave Wheaton an 11-6 lead just four minutes into the game but Elmhurst clawed its way back and held the lead at 22-20 midway through the first half. Another three by DeMoss gave Wheaton the lead for good and helped to push Wheaton to a 42-34 advantage at halftime.

Two early second half free throws by Brayden Teuscher (PICTURED RIGHT) gave Wheaton its biggest lead to that point at 44-34 but Elmhurst again rallied and cut the lead down to 49-47 at the 14:37 mark. Tad Fisher's three-pointer sparked a a 20-4 extended run over the next six minutes of play that gave the Thunder the biggest lead of the night at 69-53 at the 8:36 mark. During the run, Wheaton scored on six consecutive possession including three-pointers by Fisher, Tyler Peters and Teuscher.

The Bluejays attempted to get back in the game with an 8-0 run later in the half but never got closer than six points. Tyler Peters scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half to help Wheaton earn the 86-77 victory.

Peters (PICTURED LEFT) scored a game-high 21 points for Wheaton. Brayden Teuscher finished with 20 points and Nate Haynes collected a double-double wiht a seeaon-high in points (18) to go with 15 rebounds. Nick Sanford (16), Kyle Wuest (14) and Taylor Baxter (13) all finished in double-digits in points for the Bluejays.

Wheaton will look to stay tied atop the crowded conference race on Saturday night when the Thunder visit #14-ranked Augustana at 7 PM. Augustana (15-4, 5-3) currently sits one game back of the conference leaders.