PICTURED ABOVE: Luke Peters led all players with nine rebounds and added a team-high six assists.

Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder men's basketball hosted Alma College in a non-conference matchup on Saturday night in King Arena. The Scots edged Wheaton 87-82 in the contest. Wheaton is now 6-3 overall.

Thunder junior Aston Francis (PICTURED LEFT) made six three-pointers, scoring a game-high 28 points tonight. Francis distributed four assists and grabbed two steals. Senior Ricky Samuelson tallied 19 points, making five shots behind the three-point arc. Samuelson added three assists and two steals.

Luke Peters led all players with nine rebounds and he registered the team lead with six assists. Trevor Gunter (PICTURED RIGHT) grabbed eight rebounds, blocked five shots and scored seven points in a well-rounded effort.

Jay Spencer scored nine points with six rebounds for the hosts. Kobe Eichelberger scored eight points and Spencer Peters grabbed six rebounds with five points off the Thunder bench.

Wheaton shot 36.4% (24-of-66) from the field, including 33.3% (12-of-36) from three-point range. The Scots posted a 52.4% (33-of-63) field goal percentage, including 45.8% (11-for-24) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 91.7% (22-of-24) at the free throw line and Alma recorded a 71.4% (10-of-14) effort at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded Alma 40-36, including a 14-7 advantage on the offensive glass for the hosts.

Wheaton held an early 12-11 lead with 15:00 left in the first half, when the Scots responded with a 13-3 run to give Alma a 24-15 lead with 11:25 remaining before halftime. Wheaton countered with a 17-8 run to tie the game at 32-32 with 6:40 left in the first half. The Scots led 39-34 with 3:15 left in the opening half and closed the half with a 13-7 run that featured three Alma three-pointers. The strong run gave Alma an 11-point halftime lead at 52-41.

The Scots led 60-46 with 16:00 left in the second half when Wheaton registered a streak of 10 unanswered points to cut the Alma leads to 60-56 with 12:55 remaining in regulation. The Scots gradually built up another double-digit lead to hold an 84-72 lead with 3:25 remaining in the second half.

Samuelson (PICTURED LEFT) made a pair of free throws with 3:22 left in the game to cut the Scots lead to 10 points. Gunter stole the ball on Alma's next possession and Spencer made a put-back basket off his own miss to trim the guests' advantage to 84-76 with 2:46 left in the second half. Gunter blocked an Alma shot on the Scots' next possession and Spencer collected the ball and later made a three-pointer to make the contest 84-79 in favor of Alma with 2:18 remaining in regulation.

Alma's Luke Lamoreaux made one of two free throw attempts to extend his team's lead to 85-79 with 1:56 remaining, however, Francis drained a three-pointer with 1:38 left in the game to cut the Scots' lead to just three points at 85-82. Francis' three-pointer capped a 10-1 Wheaton run over a span of just 1:44.

The Scots missed a three-point attempt on their next possession. Wheaton attempted a pair of three-pointers that would have tied the game, however the second trifecta attempt was rebounded by Alma and the Scots' Ryan Stevens made a basket with 16-seconds remaining to extend the guests' lead to 87-82. A pair of three-point attempts by Wheaton in the final 15-seconds fell short as Alma held on for the 87-82 victory.

Preston Laketa led the Scots with 22 points and five rebounds off the Alma bench. Kevin Scheibert scored 13 points for the guests. Ryan Stevens scored 12 points, while Kevin Gamble and Doug Bradfield each registered 10 points to round out five Alma players scoring in double digits. Gamble grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and Stevens distributed six assists.

Wheaton travels to No. 7 Whitworth on Tuesday to open a two-game trip to the Pacific Northwest. The trip concludes next Thursday at George Fox.