GAME STATS POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Holland, Mich. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team utilized a strong second half to earn a 68-40 victory over Penn State-Behrend (23-5) on Saturday night in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. Wheaton is now 21-8 on the year and advances to a NCAA Sectional Semifinal next Friday against Dickinson College. The Sectional will be hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University.
Thunder head coach
Mike Schauer said after the game, "As I told the team in the locker room, we have rattled off four straight wins against teams that earned 20 wins at least on the season and we have done it because we have just started to defend at a ridiculously high rate. Tonight was an example of that, Penn State-Behrend is a great team and we simply dismantled them offensively and have done that now for several nights in a row."
Brayden Teuscher led the Thunder in scoring with 14 points and three assists.
Tyler Peters (PICTURED LEFT) scored 13 points, with seven assists. He added six rebounds and three steals.
Nate Haynes tallied his eighth "double-double" of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Caleb DeMoss scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Haynes said of his 10 rebounds tonight, "Rebounds are something I take pride in. It just takes hard work and I am the kind of guy that I prefer to get more rebounds than points." He added, "It's a huge thing for our team."
Wheaton shot 47.3% (26-55) from the field tonight, with 50% (9-18) from three-point range and 87.5% (7-8). The Lions shot just 25% (5-20) from the floor in the second half on their way to a 30.2% (13-43) for the game. Penn State-Behrend registered 30% (3-10) from three-point range in the game and 84.6% (11-13) at the free throw line. Haynes' 10-rebound performance helped lead the Thunder to a 37-23 advantage on the glass tonight.
The Thunder held a 7-5 lead with 12:53 remaining in the first half when Wheaton put together an 11-3 scoring run to take an 18-8 lead with 8:48 remaining before halftime. A 12-4 run for the Lions cut Wheaton's lead to 22-20 with 4:25 left in the opening half. A three-pointer by
Brayden Teuscher and a basket by
Michael Berg help Wheaton stretch its lead to 27-22 with 2:40 left before halftime. The Thunder held a 27-25 advantage at the halftime intermission.
Wheaton scored the first five points of the second half thanks to a three-pointer by Teuscher and a layup by Peters to extend Wheaton's lead to 32-25. Those baskets sparked a 14-2 scoring advantage for the Thunder over the first 5:30 of the second half to increase the Wheaton lead to 41-27. A three-pointer by
Peter Smith continued the Thunder surge to increase the lead to 44-27 with 12:58 remaining in regulation. Wheaton maintained control throughout the second half, out-scoring the Lions 41-15 in the second half.
Keith Wallace led Penn State-Behrend with 10 points and he added four rebounds. Casey Courneen scored 10 points with 3 assists for the Lions. Zane Hackett scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Note Worthy: Tonight Peters became just the sixth player in school history to dish out 400 assists in a career…Peters now has 406 career assists and is fifth in school history in the category…Haynes now has 666 career rebounds and is just five rebounds shy of passing Joel Kolmodin for 10th place on Wheaton's all-time rebounds list…Peters' seven assists tonight gives him 137 this season, which is seventh on Wheaton's single-season list, passing the 134 dished out by his former teammate Tim McCrary in 2009-10
