PICTURED ABOVE: Brayden Teuscher led the Thunder wtih 20 points on Saturday night at Carthage.
Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team dropped a 78-66 decision at Carthage College (8-15, 4-9 CCIW) on Saturday night.
Tonight was the final road contest of the season for the Thunder as Wheaton will conclude the regular season next Saturday at home against #11-Augustana in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff. Wheaton is now 11-13 on the season and 4-9 in CCIW.
Senior
Brayden Teuscher led the Thunder with 20 points, draining a trio of three-pointers. Teuscher also distributed six assists. Freshman
Ricky Samuelson (PICTURED LEFT) scored 14 points off the Thunder bench. Samuelson made four three-pointers in the game and grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
Jonathan Berntsen scored nine points.
Joel Smith and
Caleb DeMoss each tallied eight points.
Carthage built up a 26-12 lead 12 minutes of the game. The Red Men led held a 10-point lead at 33-23 with 3:30 left in the first half when three-pointers by Teuscher, Samuelson and Berntsen contributed to a 16-8 Thunder run to close out the first half as Carthage held a 41-39 lead at halftime.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Carthage turned Wheaton's 53-50 lead into a 56-53 lead for the hosts and was part of a 14-3 Carthage run that gave the Red Men a 64-56 lead with 8:25 left in the second half. The key second-half run helped propel Carthage to the 78-66 victory.
Wheaton shot 39.6% (21-for-53) from the field, with 41.9% (13-for-31) from three point range and 100% (11-for-11) at the free throw line. Carthage posted a 46.7% (28-for-60) field goal percentage, including 42.3% (11-for-26) from three-point range. The Red Men shot 44% (11-of-25) at the charity stripe tonight. Carthage controlled the glass with a 45-26 edge in rebounding and Carthage held a 19-6 advantage on the offensive boards.
Ellis Matthews led Carthage with 21 points and five rebounds off of the Red Men bench. Kiston Lee scored 16 points with nine rebounds. Mike Stevenson contributed 12 points for the hosts.
