PICTURED ABOVE: Ricky Samuelson shot 9-of-13 from the field in scoring 19 points with nine rebounds at North Park on Wednesday.

Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team had a strong second half on Wednesday night at 18^th-ranked North Park (12-2, 4-2 CCIW) in a hard-fought 87-83 loss to the Vikings. Wheaton is now 6-8 on the season and 2-3 in CCIW play.

A basket by Wheaton's Kobe Eichelberger just 3:05 into the game gave the Thunder a 10-7 lead. The hosts responded with a 27-9 run over the next eight-plus minutes to give the Vikings a 34-19 lead with 8:15 remaining in the first half. Wheaton trimmed the NPU lead to 12 points at 53-41 at the halftime intermission.

North Park's Darius Brown made a pair of free throws with 13:50 left in the second half to give the hosts a 68-53 lead as NPU matched its largest lead of the game at a 15-point advantage. Baskets by Ricky Samuelson and Jake Mlagan sparked a 15-4 run for the Thunder over the next 6:20 as Wheaton trimmed the North Park lead to just four points at 72-68 with 7:36 remaining in the game. Mlagan and Samuelson combined to score nine of Wheaton's 15 points in the key run.

The Vikings gradually built up a seven-point lead at 77-70 with 4:55 left in the contest. Jay Spencer (PICTURED LEFT) grabbed a rebound on a missed free throw by North Park and Wheaton moved down the court and a basket by Aston Francis cut the hosts advantage to 77-72 with 4:30 left and then Francis stole the ball from Henry and Spencer got a put-back basket on an offensive rebound to trim the NPU lead to 77-74 with 3:49 left in the matchup.

The Vikings again gradually built its lead to an eight-point bulge at 84-76 with 1:40 remaining in the game. Francis buried a three-pointer with 1:35 left in the game to trim the NPU lead to 84-79 and NPU turned the ball over on its next possession as Francis made one of two free throw attempts to cut the Thunder deficit to just four points at an 84-80 NPU lead with 1:00 left in regulation. Wheaton missed a three-point attempt with 16-seconds left in the game that would have cut the Vikings' lead to just one. NPU made a pair of free throws with seven-seconds left in regulation to extend the Vikings' lead to six points at 86-80. Francis drained his second three-pointer of the second half with three-seconds remaining in the game to trim the NPU lead to 86-83. The Vikings made one of two free throw attempts with two seconds left in the game to secure the 87-83 win.

Francis (PICTURED RIGHT) led the Thunder with 23 points, four assists and three steals. Samuelson shot 69.2% (9-of-13) from the field to score 19 points and he added two steals. Spencer was a perfect five-of-five from the field in scoring 11 points. Samuelson led the Thunder with nine rebounds and Spencer added seven boards. Luke Peters and Mlagan each scored 10 points for the guests and Peters added three assists.

The Thunder shot a season-high 61.4% (35-57) from the field as Wheaton had a 62.1% (18-29) field goal percentage in the first half and had a 60.7% (17-of-28) field goal percentage in the second half. Wheaton shot 38.5% (5-of-13) from three-point range in the game and had a 57.1% (8-of-14) effort at the free throw line. The Vikings had a strong 67.7% (21-of-31) field goal percentage in the first and shot 38.5% (10-of-26) from the floor in the second half for a 54.4% (31-of-57) field goal percentage in the game. Wheaton out-rebounded the Vikings 31-28 in the contests and NPU held an 11-9 edge on the offensive glass.

Colin Lake led North Park with 23 points and seven assists. Henry scored 22 points with four assists. Brown contributed 16 points with eight rebounds and T.J. Cobbbs scored 11 points for the hosts.

Wheaton will host Millikin on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena