PICTURED ABOVE: Sophomore Aston Francis led the Thunder with 24 points in his Wheaton debut

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team opened the 2016-17 campaign on Tuesday night with a matchup at home against sixth-ranked Benedictine University (1-0). The Eagles, the 2015-16 NCAA Division III National Runner-Up, defeated the Thunder tonight 86-76. Wheaton (0-1) will host the 2016 Lee Pfund Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Thunder will entertain Luther College at 8:00 p.m. on Friday in the final game of the opening day of the tournament.
 
Benedictine opened up an 18-10 lead tonight, but the Thunder countered with an 11-3 run to tie the game at 21-21 with 10:44 remaining in the first half. Three-pointers by Aston Francis and Luke Peters helped key Wheaton's run. The Eagles held a one-point lead at 30-29 with 4:45 left in the first half, but the guests closed out the half with a 17-6 run that allowed Benedictine to own a 47-35 halftime advantage.

The Eagles never trailed in the second half. Benedictine led 57-47 with 16:00 left in the second half when Wheaton put together a 7-2 scoring run that allowed the Thunder to cut the guests lead to 59-54 with 10:00 left in regulation. The five-point deficit was the closest Wheaton would get as the Eagles emerged with the season-opening win.

Sophomore Aston Francis made three three-pointers and scored a team-high 24 points with four assists in his Wheaton debut. Junior Ricky Samuelson (PICTURED LEFT) shot 8-of-14 from the field and made three three-pointers as he scored 22 points on the night. Reagan Jones shot 4-of-7 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Jones also collected seven rebounds. Kobe Eichelberger grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and Luke Peters distributed seven assists.

Tahron Harvey led Benedictine with 31 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Adam Reynolds scored 20 points, with six rebounds for the Eagles. Michael Blaszczyk scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.

Wheaton shot 42.6% (26-of-61) from the field, including 38.5% (10-for-26) from three-point range. The Eagles posted a 49.2% (30-of-61) effort from the field tonight, including 26.9% (7-of-26) behind the three-point arc.
Benedictine shot 79.2% (19-of24) from the free throw line tonight and the Thunder had a 58.3% (14-of-24) effort at the charity stripe. The Eagles out-rebounded Wheaton 40-35 tonight as each team collected seven offensive rebounds.