Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team lost 82-71 at North Park on Wednesday night. The loss drops Wheaton to 4-11 overall and 0-4 in CCIW play. North Park is now 10-5 overall and 2-2 in conference action.
Wheaton shot 46.6% (27-for-58) from the field, but struggled from behind the three-point line (26.7%, 4-of-15) as well as the free throw line (52%, 13-of-25). North Park shot a similar 45.2% (28-of-62) from the field, but shot 36.8% (7-for-19) from the three-point line and an impressive 82.6% (19-of-23) from the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded the Vikings 39-36 including a 10-9 edge in offensive rebounds.
The Vikings jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening 3:14 and stretched that lead to 18-7 with 13:21 to play in the first half. Wheaton was able to chip the lead down to 25-20 with 5:33 left in the half on a
Ricky Samuelson layup. but the Vikings countered with a 13-6 run to take a 38-26 lead. A late three-pointer by Samuelson was able to cut the halftime deficit down to 38-30. Samuelson led all scorers in the first half with 16 points.
Buckets by
Michael Berg and
Murad Dillard to start the second half cut the Viking lead to four points but an enusing 7-1 run for the Vikings pushed the lead back to double figures at 46-35. Two free throws by Berg and later a jumper by Berg brought the Viking lead down to seven points on two occasions, but each time the hosts quickly responded to pull away again.
Trae Masten's jumper with 4:41 to play capped a four-point run to once again bring the deficit to seven but Wheaton could not take advantage of a three-minute scoring drought for the Vikings and North Park pushed the lead back up to as many as 14 points. Consecutive lay-ups by
Jonathan Berntsen provided the final count of 82-71.
Samuelson led the Thunder with 21 points.
Michael Berg added 13 points.
Troy Morrison led the Thunder with eight rebounds to go with four points. Juwan Henry led the Vikings with a game-high 29 points and Jordan Robinson chipped in a monster double-double with 19 points and 19 rebounds.
Wheaton will return home to King Arena on Saturday night when the Thunder host the #2-ranked Elmhurst Bluejays at 7:00 p.m.
