PICTURED ABOVE: Aston Francis (LEFT) scored a game-high 24 points for the Thunder. Freshman Spencer Peterson (RIGHT) tallied 13 points off the Wheaton bench.

Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team played a two-overtime thriller with North Central College (9-7, 3-4 CCIW) on Wednesday night in King Arena. The Cardinals emerged with an 86-82 win. Wheaton is now 7-9 overall and 3-4 in league play.

Aston Francis led the Thunder with 24 points, making four three-pointers in the game. The sophomore grabbed seven rebounds, with six steals and three assists tonight. Freshman Spencer Peterson scored 13 points with five rebounds off the Thunder bench. Fellow freshman Jake Mlagan scored 12 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Luke Peters scored nine points with six rebounds and six assists. Trevor Gunter scored eight points on four-of-five shooting from the field and he grabbed seven rebounds.

The Cardinals led 10-9 with 13:40 remaining in the first half when Francis buried his first three-pointer of the evening to spark a 12-3 Thunder run that gave the hosts a 21-13 lead with 10:20 remaining in the opening half. North Central chipped away at Wheaton's lead in the final 10 minutes of the half as the Cardinals led 34-32 at halftime.

The second half was tightly contested as North Central's largest lead of the half was four points and Wheaton's largest lead was five points when Peterson made a three-pointer with 5:51 remaining in regulation to give the hosts a 55-50 lead. North Central's Alex Sorenson converted an old-fashioned three-point play to trim Wheaton's lead to 55-53 with 4:20 left in the second half. Jaquan Phipps of North Central made a pair of free throws with 3:00 left in regulation to tie the game at 55-55, but Thunder freshman Jay Spencer made a three-pointer with 2:50 left to give the hosts a 58-55 lead.

Sorenson and Peters traded baskets on each team's respective trips down the court as Wheaton led 60-57 with 1:56 remaining in regulation. Phipps made a layup and the ensuing free throw to convert an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game at 60-60 with 1:38 left in the second half. Wheaton missed a three-point attempt with 1:21 left in regulation, but Ricky Samuelson collected the offensive rebound and was fouled. The junior made both free throws to give Wheaton a 62-60 lead with 1:18 remaining.

North Central missed a field goal attempt on its next trip down the court, but NCC collected the offensive rebound and Tommy Koth made a three-pointer for the Cardinals to give the guests a 63-62 lead with 38-seconds left in regulation. Wheaton turned the ball over on its next offensive effort and fouled North Central's Erwin Henry who made two free throws to give the Cardinals a 65-62 lead with 21-seconds remaining in regulation. Peterson tied the game at 65-65 on a three-pointer with seven-seconds remaining in the second half. North Central's field goal attempt at the buzzer missed to send the game to overtime.

Sorenson made a basket with 1:43 left in the first overtime to give the Cardinals a three-point lead at 71-68, but Peters responded on Wheaton's next trip down the court as he made a jump shot to cut the NCC lead to 71-70 with 1:29 remaining in the first OT. North Central missed a field goa attempt on in its next possession and Francis grabbed the rebounded, but a Thunder turnover gave North Central the ball back with 48-seconds remaining in the overtime period. North Central committed a turnover on its next possession and Mlagan (PICTURED LEFT) grabbed the offensive rebound on Wheaton's missed three-point attempt. Mlagan was fouled, and made the first of two free throw attempts to tie the game at 71-71 with eight seconds remaining. The Cardinals missed a shot attempt at the buzzer to send the matchup to a second overtime period.

North Central out-scored Wheaton 8-1 over the first four minutes of the second overtime. Francis made a three-pointer with 54-seconds left in the period to cut the Cardinals' lead to 80-75. The two teams traded points as North Central led 85-79 with 30-seconds left in the second overtime, but Francis again made a three-pointer as he cut the guests lead to 85-82 with 18-seconds left in the period. North Central's Aiden Chang made one of two free throw attempts with 13-seconds remaining to give the Cardinals n 86-82 lead with 13-seconds remaining. Wheaton's three-point attempt with eight seconds left was collected by Koth as the Cardinals secured the overtime win.

Sorenson led North Central with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Chang scored 18 points with three assists. Matt Cappelletti registered 13 points and 13 rebounds and Koth scored 12 points with eight rebounds and four steals.

Wheaton shot 41.4% (29-of-70) from the field, including 32.4% (11-of-34) from three-point range. North Central posted a 36.3% (29-of-80) field goal percentage, including 27.3% (6-of-22) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 65% (13-for-20) at the free throw line and North Central had a 78.6% (22-of-28) effort at the charity stripe. North Central out-rebounded the Thunder 57-43, including a 24-14 edge on the offensive glass.

The Thunder will host Carthage on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.