PICTURED ABOVE: Brayden Teuscher scored a game-high 28 points to lead to a 70-66 victory over #19-Calvin on Friday night in the CCIW-MIAA Challenge.

Kenosha, Wis. - For the second time in three nights the Thunder men's basketball team took down a Top-25 opponent away from King Arena. After downing #17-Chicago on the road on Wednesday night, Wheaton toppled #19-Calvin on a neutral floor at the CCIW-MIAA Challenge by a score of 70-66. The victory moves Wheaton to 5-2 on the season while the Knights drop to 4-3 on the year. Wheaton will conclude action in the four team tournament by facing Hope College at 1 PM on Saturday. Calvin will face the host, Carthage, at 3 PM on Saturday.

Head Coach Mike Schauer noted of his team's performance over the last two games, "The biggest positive this week is the fact that I think my team is starting to figure out how we have to win games. We have to make games ugly and difficult. We just have to continue to work to keep the game competitive and then make plays down the stretch."

Wheaton withstood a hot shooting night by the Knights, who were 26-53 (49.1%) from the field and 5-12 (41.7%) on three-point attempts. Calvin was 75% (9-for-12) from the free throw line. Wheaton shot 25-54 (46.3%) from the field but struggled from three-point range, hitting just 29.4% (5-17). Wheaton was 15-17 (88.2%) from the free throw line. Wheaton outrebounded Calvin 32-27 with a 12-9 edge on the offensive glass.

Wheaton jumped out to a quick 6-0 start, aided by a steal and breakaway lay-up by Brayden Teuscher on the game's first possession. Calvin slowly worked back into the game and took its first lead at 16-15 nine minutes into the game. Wheaton responded with five straight points and a Riley Teuscher three-point gave the Thunder a 22-18 lead. Brayden Teuscher's three-pointer at the 4:37 mark gave Wheaton an eight-point cushion at 29-21, but the Knights would close the half on a 7-0 run to make the halftime score 29-28 in favor of the Thunder.

The early portion of the second half featured several ties and lead changes before Wheaton took the lead for good with a back-to-back three-pointers by Riley Teuscher (PICTURED RIGHT) that were followed by a Peter Smith lay-up to cap an 8-0 run and gaive the Thunder a 47-41 lead with just under 11 minutes to play. The two-three pointers accounted for six of the nine points scored off the bench by the younger Teuscher. "I thought our bench was great tonight. Jonathan Berntsen, Joel Smith and Riley Teuscher really gave us some good minutes tonight and played really well," the Thunder mentor noted of his team's bench play.

Wheaton pushed that lead out to a game-high 11 points when Brayden Teuscher ran off four straight points with six and a half minutes to play. Leading 62-52 with 3:04 to play, Calvin went on a 6-0 burst to cut the deficit to 62-59 with 1:28 to play. The two teams traded buckets and free throws down the stretch with Wheaton converting all eight of its free throw attempts in the game's final 30 seconds of play to pull out the 70-66 victory.

Brayden Teuscher led all scorers with 28 points including 19 in the second half. Michael Berg (PICTURED LEFT) recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Berg and Teuscher combined to shoot 15-16 from the free throw line. Riley Teuscher scored nine points off the bench for the Thunder. Jordan Brink led the Knights with 19 points.