PICTURED ABOVE: Brayden Teuscher scored a game-high 25 points in Wheaton's 71-68 loss at North Park on Wednesday night.

Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team put forth a furious rally but fell short on Wednesday night in a 71-68 loss at North Park. The Vikings used a 14-0 run to take an 11-point lead with jus tunder four minutes to play, but Wheaton was able to work the lead down to three on a Brayden Teuscher three-pointer with 1:23 to play. Teuscher had a shot to tie the game on the game's final possession but could not get it to go and Wheaton fell by three. Wheaton is now 9-12 on the year and 2-8 in conference play. North Park improves to 13-8 and 4-6 in the CCIW. Wheaton will host Elmhurst on Saturday night at 7 PM in King Arena.

Wheaton shot 47.1% (24-51) from the field, but made just 33.3% (8-24) of its three-point attempts and struggled to just a 66.7% (12-18) clip from the free throw line. North Park shot 47.7% (31-65) from the field and made 7-of-22 (31.8%) of its three-point attempts. The Vikings made two of their four free throw attempts. North Park edged Wheaton in the rebound battle 33-32 but held a 14-11 edge on the offense glass. The Vikings assisted on 19 of their 31 field goals while Wheaton had just 10 assists.

North Park looked to run away with the game in the early minutes as the Vikings jumped ou tot a 17-9 lead in the first six minutes of action. A three-point play by Jonathan Berntsen sparked a 7-0 run that culminated with a Berntsen lay-up to the game at 21 with 10:36 to play in the first half. An 8-0 Viking run late in the half would push the lead back to seven but a late lay-up by Brayden Teuscher cut the Thunder halftime deficit to 36-33.

A pair of Caleb DeMoss three-pointers pulled Wheaton even on two occasions before finally a Teuscher three-pointer with 8:06 to play gave Wheaton a 56-53 lead. After a North Park timeout, the Vikings ran off 14 straight points and held Wheaton scoreless for a stretch of four and a half minutes. Wheaton would be held without a field goal for a span of five and a half minutes until a Teuscher lay-up cut the Viking lead to 67-62 with 2:39 to play. Teuscher's free throw cut it to four and his three-pointer with 1:23 to play made it a one-possession game at 71-68 with 1:23 to play.

Wheaton was able to get a defensive stop but an offensive rebound by T.J. Cobbs allowed the Vikings to run another 30 seconds off the clock before Wheaton was able to regain possession. Out of a Thunder timeout, Teuscher had a clean look at a corner three-pointer but it fell short and Caleb DeMoss (PICTURED RIGHT) was unable to get a putback attempt up in time, giving the Thunder its sixth loss of five or fewer points this season and second such loss in a row.

Brayden Teuscher led all scorers with 25 points. Michael Berg scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and Caleb DeMoss netted 11 points. Juwan Henry led the Vikings with 22 points.

Wheaton will next be in action on Saturday night when the Thunder host the Elmhurst Bluejays at 7 PM.