Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team defeated Illinois Wesleyan 81-67 tonight in King Arena. Tonight's victory improves Wheaton to 12-11 overall and 8-6 in CCIW play. Wheaton remains in a seven-team battle for a spot in the upcoming four-team CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. Illinois Wesleyan is now 16-7 overall and 8-6 in CCIW play.
 
Wheaton's Aston Francis led all players with a game-high 31 points and he added five assists. Francis made seven three-pointers for the hosts. Freshman Jay Spencer scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Jake Mlagan (PICTURED RIGHT) registered 14 points with seven rebounds. Sophomore Kobe Eichelberger scored eight points with six rebounds. Luke Peters grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and dished out four assists.

Wheaton dominated the Titans on the glass with a 50-33 advantage, including an 18-12 edge in offensive rebounding that helped Wheaton to a 16-6 advantage in second chance points. Wheaton shot 39% (23-of-59) from the field, including 45.8% (11-for-24) behind the three-point arc. Illinois Wesleyan shot a 35.4% (23-of-65) field goal percentage, including 29.4% (10-of-34) from three-point range. Wheaton shot 88.9% (24-of-27) at the free throw line and the Titans had a 78.6% (11-of-14) effort at the charity stripe.
 
Tonight's contest was tied at 8-8 with 16:00 left in the first half when the Titans put together a 16-6 run to gain a 24-14 lead with 8:00 left before halftime. The Titans maintained a 10-point lead at 31-21 with 5:00 left in the first half. However, the Thunder out-scored the Titans 17-6 over the final five minutes of the half. The Wheaton scoring surge allowed the hosts to hold a 38-37 lead at halftime.
 
Much of the second half was tightly contested. The Thunder led 57-53 with 8:00 remaining in the game, but the Titans made two three-pointers and jump shot for eight unanswered points to give IWU a 61-57 lead with 6:20 remaining in the game.

The Titans led 61-58 with 5:47 remaining in the game when Francis (PICTURED LEFT) drained a three-pointer from well off the arc to tie the contest at 61-61. Francis's trifecta was the start of a 20-6 Thunder run to close out the second half.
 
Francis gathered the defensive rebound on a missed field goal attempt by the Titans and on Wheaton's next possession Wheaton hustled for a loose ball opportunity as Peters (PICTURED RIGHT) came up with the ball and dished it off to Eichelberger for a slam dunk that gave Wheaton a 63-61 lead with 4:42 left in the game. The Thunder never trailed after Eichelberger's impressive dunk. Wheaton's offensive rebounding was critical during the run as Peters and Francis both scored on put-back baskets on the next two Thunder possessions for a 65-61 lead with 4:40 remaining in the game. Francis' put-back basket was the final field goal of the game for either team. Wheaton was a perfect 14-for-14 at the free throw line in the final 3:25 of the contest to secure the win.
 
Brady Rose scored 19 points with four assists to lead the Titans. Colin Bonnett added 14 points for the guests and Trevor Seibring contributed 12 points.
 
The Thunder will travel to Carroll on Saturday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. matchup with the Pioneers. Saturday's matchup in Waukesha, Wisconsin is another key contest in determining the four participants in next week's CCIW Tournament.