PICTURED ABOVE: Jonathan Berntsen scored a career-high 25 points on Wednesday night.
Whitewater, Wis. - The Thunder men's basketball team squared off against nationally-ranked UW-Whitewater on Wednesday night. The Warhawks used a late surge to earn the 80-72 victory over the Thunder at Rachel Gymnasium.
UW-Whitewater, ranked 25th in this week's d3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, improves to 5-2 on the year. Wheaton is now 3-5 on the season. The Thunder will host Alma College on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.
The Warhawks gained an early 13-5 lead in tonight's non-conference matchup. The Thunder responded with a 14-4 run over a span of eight minutes to take a 19-17 lead with 5:25 remaining in the first half. Thunder seniors Michael Berg (PICTURED LEFT) and Jonathan Berntsen combined to score 11 of Wheaton's 14 points in the key scoring surge. The contest remained close for the rest of the first half as UW-Whitewater led 28-27 at the halftime intermission.
The Warhawks scored the first eight points of the second half to give the hosts a 36-27 lead just three minutes into the half. Six points by Berntsen, and a three-pointer by Joel Smith sparked a 9-4 run for the Thunder that trimmed the Whitewater lead to 40-36 with 14:35 left in the game.
The hosts owned a 51-47 lead with 10:00 when Berntsen made a pair of free throws and Murad Dillard later added a layup to tie the game at 51-51 with 9:05 remaining in the game. The Warhawks' Cole Van Schyndel scored five-straight points and Andre Brown added a layup to give UW-Whitewater a 58-51 lead with 7:55 remaining in regulation.
The Warhawks owned a 69-60 lead with four minutes left in regulation when Berntsen sank a three-pointer to trim the hosts' lead to 69-63. Berntsen's basket was followed by a pair of free throws for Berg and layup by Dillard for a 7-0 Thunder run that cut the Warhawks' lead to 69-67 with just 2:40 left in the game. UW-Whitewater's Andre Brown responded with a basket and a Wheaton miss was followed by a three-pointer by Whitewater's Marquis Turner to extend the Warhawks' lead to 74-67 with 1:32 remaining in the matchup. The hosts made six free throws in the final 1:05 of the contest to lock up the win.
Berntsen scored a career-high 25 points in the outing and added three assists. The senior shot 7-of-9 from the field, including 3-for-4 behind the three-point arc. Berg tallied his third "double-double" of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Dillard and Smith each scored seven points for the Thunder and freshman Troy Morrison added a team-high four assists.
Van Schyndel led the Warhawks with 29 points and 12 rebounds. Brown added 15 points and seven boards for the hosts.
Wheaton shot 42.6% (23-of-54) from the field tonight, including 37.5% (6-for-16) from three-point range. The Thunder posted a 76.9% (20-for-26) effort at the free throw line tonight. The Warhawks tallied a 53.3% (24-for-45) field goal percentage, with 44.4% (8-of-18) behind the three-point arc and registered a 68.6% (24-of-35) free throw percentage. UW-Whitewater out-rebounded the Thunder 33-29 tonight. Wheaton tallied a 6-5 edge on the offensive glass in the outing.
