Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team fell short in a second-half rally at home on Saturday as the Thunder lost a 71-62 matchup with North Central College (10-4/3-0 CCIW) in King Arena. Wheaton (4-10, 0-3 CCIW) will travel to North Park University on Wednesday night for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff with the Vikings.

The first half was tightly contested with 12 lead changes and the score tied on seven occasions. The Cardinals led 30-26 with 6:00 left in the first half when a free throw by Michael Berg (PICTURED LEFT) trimmed the guests' lead to 30-27 and Thunder freshman Trae Masten buried a three-pointer with 4:10 left in the opening half to tie the game at 30-30. Masten added a jumper and another three-pointer over the next minute and a half to give the Thunder a 35-30 lead with 2:35 left in the first half.

Wheaton concluded the first half with a 10-0 run over the final six minutes of the half to give Wheaton a 36-30 lead at the halftime intermission.  Masten scored eight of Wheaton's 10 points in critical run to close the half.

Thunder sophomore Ricky Samuelson made a three-pointer to open the second half to extend the Thunder lead to 39-30 in the opening minute of the half. Following Samuelson's trifecta, the Cardinals scored 16 unanswered points to take a 46-39 lead with 13:15 left in the game.

North Central led the Thunder 58-46 with 6:35 left in the game when Masten buried a three-pointer to cut the Cardinals' lead to 58-49. The Thunder continued to cut the guests' lead with a pair of free throws by Murad Dillard and two free throws by Masten over the next minute to cut the Cardinals' lead to 58-53 with 5:44 left in regulation. A basket by Samuelson continued the Thunder rally as North Central's lead dwindled to 58-55 with 4:40 remaining in the game. Samuelson's field goal capped a 9-0 run for the Thunder.

North Central held a 61-56 lead with 3:27 left in the game when Berg made the first of four free throws over the next 1:15 to cut the guests' lead to 61-59 with 2:15 remaining in the game. North Central's Jayme Moten responded with a three-pointer on the Cardinals' next possession to increase his team's lead to 64-59 with 2:01 left in the game. A Wheaton turnover on the hosts' next possession resulted in a 1-for-2 effort at the charity stripe for the Cardinals to increase the NCC lead to 65-59. The Cardinals shot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to secure the 71-62 victory.

Masten scored a career-high 15 points tonight, with three three-pointers. The freshman also collected six rebounds for the hosts. Berg contributed 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds and two steals. Samuelson scored 13 points, making a trio of three-pointers.  Dillard scored seven points with five rebounds and Riley Teuscher contributed six points, making a pair of three-pointers.

Connor Raridon led North Central with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Erwin Henry scored 14 points with nine rebounds for the guests. Moten added 13 points and Jagger Anderson scored 12 points with eight rebounds.
Wheaton shot for a 35.7% (20-of-56) field goal percentage tonight, including a 39.1% (9-of-23) effort behind the three-point arc. North Central shot 40.4% (21-for-52) from the field, with 28.7% (5-for-18) from three-point range. Wheaton had a 76.5% (13-of-17) effort at the free throw line tonight and North Central shot 70.6% (24-for-34) from the charity stripe. The Cardinals out-rebounded the Thunder 43-30, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive glass.