Bloomington, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball team fell to a hot-shooting Illinois Wesleyan team by a score of 84-75 on Saturday night at the Shirk Center. Wheaton's loss came despite a career-night from Aston Francis that saw the sophomore guard drop 39 points. Wheaton's loss drops the Thunder to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the CCIW. Illinois Wesleyan improves to 11-3 overall and 3-2 in conference action.

Francis' 39-point performance is the most points scored by a Wheaton player since Kent Raymond scored 47 points in the NCAA Tournament against Whitworth on March 14, 2008. His 39 points rank as the ninth-highest single game total in program history. Francis connected on 15-of-30 shot attempts including five of his 13 three-point attempts and all four attempts from the free throw line.

The Titans shot an impressive 50% (30-60) from the field including a red hot 61.3% in the first half. The Titans shot just 29.2% (7-24) from the beyond the arc and shot 77.3% (17-22) from the free throw line. Wheaton shot 44.4% (28-63) from the field but struggled to just 26.3% (5-19) from the three-point line. The Thunder shot 93.3% (14-15) from the free throw line. Illinois Wesleyan won the rebounding battle 36-33 with both teams hauling in eight offensive rebounds.

Francis scored nine of Wheaton's first 15 points including a lay-up that gave the Thunder its only lead of the game at 6-5 just over three minutes into the game. A Francis three-pointer at the midway point of the first half cut the Titans lead to three before the Titans used a 15-4 run to open up their biggest lead of the game 39-25 with 6:07 left in the half. Another Francis three would cut the Titans lead back down to five points in the final minute of the half but Andy Stempel answered with a trey for the Titans to put the hosts ahead 47-39 at halftime.

Wheaton could not get the Titan lead below seven points in the second half, with the lead bouncing between seven and 12 points for the final 20 minutes of the game. A Francis jumper with 17 seconds left cut the final deficit to 84-75.

Ricky Samuelson finished with 15 points to go with six rebounds and Luke Peters scored 11 points. Stempel and Brady Rose led five Titans in double-figures in scoring with 17 points apiece.

Wheaton will travel to North Park on Wednesday night to face the 10th-ranked Vikings at 7 PM.