PICTURED ABOVE: Brayden Teuscher led all scorers with 24 points in Wheaton's 77-68 loss to #22-Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team dropped its third consecutive game on Wednesday night with a 77-68 loss to #22-Illinois Wesleyan in King Arena. With the loss, Wheaton falls to 7-6 on the season and 0-2 in the CCIW. The Titans improve to 9-4 and 1-1 in conference play. Wheaton led for a large majority of the game but Illinois Wesleyan took the lead for good with two minutes to play and used a 20-6 run to close the game to earn the road victory. Wheaton hosts #10-North Central at 7 PM on Saturday.

Wheaton shot 45.9% (28-61) from the field despite shooting just 1-16 (6.3%) from the three-point line. Wheaton was 11-13 (84.6%) from the free throw line. The Titans shot 50% (24-48) from the field and connected on 55% (11-20) of its three-point attempts and hit 81.8% (18-22) from the free throw line. The Titans won the rebounding battle 30-28.

Wheaton jumped out to a strong start by scoring the next six after the Titans opened the scoring with a three-pointer. Wheaton pushed the lead to 23-16 at the 7:37 mark of the first half with a Brayden Teuscher jumper. That lead would reach as many as nine when Michael Berg (PICTURED RIGHT) tipped in his own miss with 2:53 to play in the first half but a finishing spark from Pat Sodemann, who scored 10 straight points for the Titans pulled the halftime lead back to 41-36.

Illinois Wesleyan opened the second half by scoring five straight to tie the game at 41 and tied the game again moments later at 45, but Wheaton countered with six straight to take a 53-47 lead with 12:46 remaining. Illinois Wesleyan cut the lead back to a one possession several times before a 6-0 run gave the Titans their first lead since the beginning of the game at 63-62 with 4:51 to play. A jumper by Joel Smith reclaimed the lead for the Thunder with 3:40 to play but a free throw and a stepback three by Jordan Nelson gave the Titans the lead for good at 67-64 with 2:02 to play. The Titans would use the three to spark a closing 13-4 run to earn the 77-68 victory.

Brayden Teuscher led all scorers with 24 points. Michael Berg registered a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double performance. Joel Smith (PICTURED LEFT) finished with 14 points and four rebounds. Caleb DeMoss dished out a game-high six assists. Nelson led the Titans with 20 points.

Wheaton will next be in action in the second game of a three-game homestand on Saturday night when the Thunder host the #10-ranked North Central Cardinals at 7 PM in King Arena.