Naperville, Illinois - The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team dropped a 75-66 decision at North Central (11-4, 5-2) on Saturday night. Wheaton is now 11-4 on the season and 5-2 in CCIW play as the loss snapped Wheaton's five-game winning streak.

Aston Francis scored a game-high 31 points on the night, making eight three-pointers. Francis also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Francis' step-back three-pointer with 7:03 left in the first quarter put him at 1,001 career points to become the 44^th player in program history reach the 1,000-point milestone. Francis ended the night with 1,017 career points – 42^nd on Wheaton's career scoring list.

Trevor Gunter (PICTURED LEFT) scored 11 points for the Thunder tonight. Kobe Eichelberger scored nine points, with five rebounds. Ricky Samuelson contributed seven points, with five rebounds. Luke Peters distributed a team-high five assists.

Wheaton gained an early lead in tonight's match as the Thunder led 13-4 with 15:40 remaining in the first half.  Wheaton held a five-point edge at 28-23 with 6:40 left in the opening half when the Cardinals put together an 8-2 run to give the hosts a 31-30 lead with 4:25 left in the first half. The two teams went into the locker rooms at halftime tied 41-41.
The tightly contested second half experienced four ties and five lead changes. Francis drained a three-pointer with 8:06 remaining in the game to tie the guests' largest lead of the second half as Wheaton held a four-point edge 61-57.

Following Francis' three-pointer, the Cardinals responded with 10-unanswered points to give NCC a 67-61 lead with 2:20 remaining in the game. The Cardinals shot 6-of-6 at the free throw line in the final 1:02 of the game as the Cardinals secured the 75-66 victory.

Wheaton posted a 42.9% (24-of-56) field goal percentage in the game, including 33.3% (10-of-30) from three-point range. North Central shot 40.4% (23-of-57) from the field, including 40% (8-of-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton out-rebounded the Cardinals 38-37, including a 14-13 edge on the offensive glass.

Alex Sorenson scored 19 points with 10 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. Erwin Henry scored 15 points and Matt Cappelletti added 13 points for the hosts. Mike Pollack scored 11 points off the Cardinals' bench.

Wheaton plays its third-consecutive road game next Wednesday with a 7:00 p.m. matchup at Carthage College.

Note Worthy: Francis' eight three-pointers tonight improves his career mark to 165 as he passes Rob Hamman (162 3-pointers from 1995-99) for ninth place on Wheaton's career three-pointers list…tonight's 31-point effort marked Francis' seventh game of 30 points or more this season and the 13^th time he has done it in his Wheaton career.