GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Peter Smith scored a game-high 19 points in Wheaton's 66-55 victory over Augustana on Friday night.

Game Highlights

Bloomington, Ill.- The Wheaton men's basketball team used a smothering defensive effort in the second half to pull away for a 66-55 victory over Augustana on Friday night in a CCIW Tournament Semifinal game. Wheaton improves to 18-8 on the season and 3-0 in neutral court games. Augustana falls to 19-7 on the season.

With the victory, Wheaton advances to Saturday night's CCIW Tournament Championship game against the host Titans of Illinois Wesleyan University at 7 PM. The winner of Saturday's CCIW Tournament Championship Game will earn the CCIW's automatic bid to next weekend's NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament.

Augustana shot 19-for-44 (43.2%) from the field and was just 3-for-8 from three-point range and the Vikings shot 70% (14-20) at the charity stripe. Wheaton was 18-of-45 (40%) from the field, including 5-of-16 (31.3%) from behind the three-point arc and the Thunder shot 71.4% (25-35) from the free throw line.

After a back-and-forth opening stretch, a Michael Berg three-pointer gave Wheaton a three-point lead at the 12:28 mark of the first half. After taking an 18-14 lead, the Vikings responded with six straight points to give Augustana its first lead of the night at 20-18 with 7:08 to play in the half. The Vikings pushed that lead to four in the closing moments of the first half, but a three-pointer by Joel Smith with 54-seconds remaining before halftime cut the lead to one and allowed Wheaton to trail just 33-31 at the halftime break.

The Vikings pushed the lead back to four points early in the second half and led 42-38 three minutes into the half. A lay-up by Tyler Peters, two Berg free throws and a thunderous dunk by Nate Haynes (PICTURED RIGHT) gave Wheaton the lead for good at the 14:54 mark. Wheaton would use an extended 18-4 run to push the lead to double digits with just under seven minutes to play.

Augustana cut the lead back to eight points but Peter Smith answered with one of his three made three-pointers on the night to increase Wheaton's lead to double digits. Wheaton was able to secure the game at the free throw line with a strong shooting effort from Brayden Teuscher who was 11-of-11 at the charity stripe, including seven in the final five minutes.

Peter Smith led Wheaton with 19 points, Tyler Peters scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Teuscher added 11 points for the Thunder. Nate Haynes scored nine points with nine rebounds. Hunter Hill led the Vikings with 10 points.

Note Worthy: With his 16 points tonight, Tyler Peters moved past Nate Frank, Bill Harbeck, and Steve Haugen on Wheaton's career scoring list and he moved into a tie with Donn Nelson for 19th place on the list.