PICTURED ABOVE: Murad Dillard (LEFT) led the Thunder with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and Michael Berg (RIGHT) added 13 points with eight rebounds.
Lisle, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team dropped a non-conference decision at Benedictine University on Tuesday evening by a score of 76-61. Wheaton is now 1-1 on the season, while the Eagles improve to 2-0 overall.
Wheaton led Benedictine 16-10 early in tonight's matchup. The Thunder continued to maintain a led as the guests held a 29-23 advantage with 4:38 left in the first half when
Ricky Samuelson drained a three-pointer. Following Samuelson's trifecta, the Eagles scored eight unanswered points to take a 31-29 lead with 2:25 left before the halftime intermission. The Eagle closed out the final 4:10 of the half with a 16-4 run to hold a 39-33 advantage at halftime.
Benedictine extended its lead over the first six minutes of the second half to a 10-point bulge at 52-42. Wheaton responded with an 11-4 run over the next three minutes, sparked by three-pointers from
Riley Teuscher and
Murad Dillard, as the Thunder trimmed the Eagles' lead to 54-51 with 11:35 left in the game.
Benedictine countered Wheaton's scoring surge with its own outburst as the Eagles put together a 15-4 run to increase the lead to 69-55 with 4:25 remaining in the game. The Eagles maintained the double-digit advantage for the final four minutes of the game to earn the win.
Dillard led the Thunder with a game-high 17 points. The Thunder sophomore was 6-of-10 from the field and also grabbed four rebounds. Senior forward
Michael Berg scored 13 points with eight rebounds. Freshman guard
Trae Masten (PICTURED LEFT) scored 11 points, including three field goals from behind the three-point arc. Samuelson scored 10 points and freshman guard
Troy Morrison had a team-high five assists with two steals.
Tahron Harvey led five Benedictine players in double digits with 17 points. Harvey added five rebounds with four assists and three steals. Lucas Johnson scored 16 points with seven rebounds and Michael Blaszczyk tied Berg for the game's rebounding best with eight boards.
Wheaton shot 40.4% (23-of-57) from the field, with 40% (8-for-20) from three-point range and 46.7% (7-of-15) at the free throw line. Benedictine posted a 53.2% (33-of-62) field goal percentage, with 13.6% (3-for-22) behind the three-point arc and 63.6% at the charity stripe. The Eagles held a 43-28 edge in rebounding, including an 8-3 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Thunder will host the
20th Lee Pfund Classic this weekend in King Arena. Wheaton will entertain George Fox University at 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Friday's other game in the tournament will feature Wabash College and Defiance College at 5:30 p.m.
