PICTURED ABOVE: Caleb DeMoss scored 13 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and three steals in Wheaton's 62-51 victory at #17-ranked UChicago on Wednesday night.

Chicago, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team kicked off a big road week on Wednesday night with a 62-51 victory at #17-ranked University of Chicago. The game was the first of three games played away from King Arena this week for the Thunder. Wheaton will face Hope and Calvin this weekend in the CCIW-MIAA Challenge, hosted by Carthage College. With the victory, Wheaton improves to 4-2 on the season while the Maroons fall to 5-2.

In a statistically even match-up Wheaton shot 38.9% (21-54) from the field but just 26.3% (5-19) from the three-point line. Chicago shot 36.7% (18-49) from the field and just 27.8% (5-18) on three-point attempts. Both teams attempted 19 free throws with Wheaton converting on 15 (78.9%) while Chicago made 10 (52.6%). Wheaton forced 14 Chicago turnovers with six steals while turning the ball over only seven times.

Wheaton jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a basketball by Caleb DeMoss and a Peter Smith three-pointer but Chicago rallied to tie the game at 9-9. Trailing 15-11 midway through the first half, Chicago used an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the night at 19-15. That lead remained at 21-17 with 6:24 to play in the first half until Wheaton scored 11 unanswered points and held the Maroons without a point for six minutes. Consecutive three-pointers by DeMoss and Murad Dillard (PICTURED RIGHT) provided Wheaton with a 28-21 lead. Chicago was able to break the drought with a basket in the final minute of the half but Michael Berg's tip-in as time expired gave Wheaton a 30-23 lead at halftime.

Chicago opened the second half on an 8-0 run retake the lead at 31-30 just two and a half minutes into the second half. After a back and forth stretch, Chicago took the lead with 11:14 to play at 42-40. Wheaton answered with six straight points to take the lead for good while holding Chicago scoreless for a stretch of three and a half minutes. The guests finally put the game away with a late 7-0 run while holding Chicago without a field goal for the final 5:58 of action. A three-pointer by DeMoss sparked the run and a Berg lay-up and two free throws from Peter Smith put the game on ice. Free throws by DeMoss and Smith accounted for the final score of 62-51.

Brayden Teuscher scored 16 points to lead the Thunder in scoring. Caleb DeMoss scored 13 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and three steals while Luis Miller tallied 12 points. Michael Berg scored nine points to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Peter Smith scored nine points wiht two blocks. Waller Perez led the Maroons with 17 points. Jordan Smith added 12 and nate Books scored 11.

Wheaton will be in action again on Friday when the Thunder take on #19-ranked Calvin at 6 PM at Carthage College in the annual CCIW-MIAA Challenge. Wheaton will also face Hope College at 1 PM on Saturday.