PICTURED ABOVE: Spencer Peterson scored a career-high 20 points in Wheaton's 75-73 loss at Carthage on Tuesday night.
Kenosha, Wis. - A furious second half rally fell just short on Tuesday night as the Thunder men's basketball team lost 75-73 in its season finale at Carthage College. Wheaton rallied from 18 points down in the second half to tie the game in the final minute but the Red Men scored on a layup with 1.3 seconds to play.
Jay Spencer's three-pointer at the buzzer rolled off the rim as the Thunder ended the season at 12-13 overall and 8-8 in conference play. Carthage earned a share of the CCIW title with the win and improved to 18-7 overall and 11-5 in the CCIW.
Thunder sophomore
Aston Francis turned it on in the second half, scoring 23 of his 30 points after halftime including an acrobatic three-pointer with 22 seconds left to tie the score at 73-73. The second of his four three-pointers broke the CCIW's record for single-single three-pointers made in conference games. Francis' new record of 67 three-pointer eclipses the previous mark of 64 set by Elmhurst's Chris Payne in the 1995-96 season. After breaking the school record for single-season three-pointers last week, Francis established the new Wheaton record at 94 treys. He finishes the season with 598 points, the 11th-highest single-season total in school history. Francis also clinched the CCIW scoring title, Wheaton's first since Tyler Peters in 2012-13.
Carthage took control of the game late in the first half, scoring six-straight points to break open a three-point game as the Red Men took a 35-27 lead into the halftime break. Carthage quickly pushed the lead into double digits early in the second half and opened up its biggest lead of the game at 53-35 just over six minutes into the second half.
Trailing by 16 points with 7:20 to play in the game,
Spencer Peterson's three-pointer started a frantic Thunder comeback. Carthage slowed the run with two free throws to make it 71-58 at the 4:54 mark but Wheaton responded with a 13-2 run. Francis took over for the Thunder, scoring all 13 points in the Wheaton run. A deep three-pointer with 29 seconds left brought Wheaton within 73-70 and Wheaton followed by forcing a Carthage turnover in the backcourt. On the ensuing in-bounds play, Francis hit an acrobatic three-pointer from the right corner to tie the game at 73-73 before the late Red Men lay-up to win it.
Wheaton shot 44.8% (26-58) from the field and 41.7% (10-24) from the three-point line. Wheaton was 68.8% (11-16) at the foul line. Carthage shot 45.2% (28-62) from the field and 36% (9-25) from beyond the arc. The Red Men shot 83.3% (10-12) at the charity stripe. Francis finished with a game-high 30 points to lead all scorers.
Spencer Peterson scored a career-high 20 points, including four three-pointers for the Thunder.
Trevor Gunter finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Ricky Samuelson contributed nine points and two assists for Wheaton.
