PICTURED ABOVE: Ricky Samuelson scored a game-high 23 points in Wheaton's 90-64 rout of Kalamazoo on Wednesday afternoon.

Cleveland, Ohio - The Thunder men's basketball team rebounded from yesterday's loss to cruise past Kalamazoo by a score of 90-64 at the Bill Sudeck Holiday Tournament on Wednesday afternoon. Wheaton was led by the high-scoring trio of Ricky Samuelson, Michael Berg and Jonathan Berntsen who accounted for 63 of Wheaton's 90 points. With the victory, Wheaton snaps a six-game losing streak and improves to 4-7 on the season heading into Saturday's CCIW opener at #1-ranked Augustana.

Kalamazoo took the early lead in Wednesday's matinee and held a 19-13 lead at the midway point of the up-tempo first half. The Hornets continued to lead 27-23 with 6:33 to play before Wheaton started an 11-2 run that pushed the Thunder ahead 34-29 on Michael Berg's (PICTURED RIGHT) jumper with 4:06 remaining in the half. The Hornets cut the lead down to 34-33 with three minutes remaining but Ricky Samuelson closed the half by scoring 11 straight points to support Wheaton's 16-3 run that gave the Thunder a 50-36 halftime edge.

The Thunder lead would not dip into single digits in the second half as a five-point Thunder streak capped by a Berg jumper pushed the lead from 10 to 15 points with 15:18 to play. Wheaton would not look back and pushed the lead to 20 points on Trae Masten's three-pointer with 6:01 to play giving the Thunder a 77-57 lead. The lead balooned to as high as 26 points with a Samuelson free throw in the final two minutes and again on a free throw by Reagan Jones that accounted for the final score of 90-64.

Samuelson led the Thunder with 23 points and seven rebounds. Michael Berg posted a double-double with 21 points and a team-best 11 rebounds and Jonathan Berntsen finished with 19 points and four assists. Troy Morrison added seven points and a game-high seven assists. Chase Baysdell led the Hornets with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Wheaton shot 46.2% (30-65) from the field and 34.8% (8-23) from the three-point line. Wheaton was 22-for-31 from the free throw line for a 71% clip. The Hornets shot 34.3% (23-67) from the field and 36.8% (7-19) from beyond the arc. Kalamazoo convert on 11-of-15 free throws for a 73.3% clip. Wheaton dominated in the paint, outscoring the Hornets 36-22 and owning a 49-37 edge in rebounds.

Wheaton will next be in action on Saturday when the Thunder travel to Rock Island to take on the top-ranked Augustana Vikings at 7 PM in the CCIW opener for both teams.

Note Worthy: Jonathan Berntsen was named to the Bill Sudeck Holiday Tournament All-Tournament Team