Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team defeated Coe College 79-77 in the opening round of the 2018 Lee Pfund Classic on Friday night in King Arena.
Wheaton (2-0) advances to face No. 2 UW-Oshkosh (1-0) on Saturday night in the tournament's championship game at 8:00 p.m. UW-Oshkosh defeated Piedmont 86-77 in tonight's opening game. Piedmont (0-3) will play Coe (1-2) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Lee Fund Classic consolation game.

Aston Francis (PICTURED LEFT) led the Thunder with 26 points, making four three-pointers. Senior Luke Peters scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Peters added eight assists, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

Anajuwon Spencer (PICTURED RIGHT) shot 4-of-7 from the field in scoring 10 points. He added eight rebounds and three assists for Thunder. Kobe Eichelberger scored nine points with nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Trevor Gunter scored eight points for the hosts.

The first 10 minutes of tonight's game were tightly contested. Wheaton led 20-19 with 10:15 remaining in the first half when baskets by Nyameye Adom and Eichelberger extended the Wheaton advantage to five points at 24-19. Wheaton Thunder maintained a lead for the rest of the first half. Wheaton led 37-33 with 1:02 left in the first half when Francis converted an old-fashioned three-point play to extend Wheaton's lead to 40-33 at halftime.

Francis made a three-pointer with 18:04 left in the second half to give Wheaton a 45-38 lead. Coe responded with a 12-3 run to give the hosts a 50-48 lead with 14:00 left in the game. Wheaton countered with an 11-4 run that was sparked by an Adom layup as Wheaton led 59-54 with 10:40 remaining in the game.

Coe gradually chipped at Wheaton's lead and a basket by the Kohawks' Nolan Timp tied the game at 77-77 with 1:05 left in regulation. Wheaton missed a three-point field goal attempt on the possession that followed, but Eichelberger (PICTURED LEFT) grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled. The senior made both free throws to give Wheaton a 79-77 lead with 38-seconds left in the game.

Coe missed a jumper on the possession that followed and sophomore Cade Alioth grabbed the defensive rebound to help Wheaton maintain the lead. Wheaton missed a free throw attempt with seven seconds remaining, but Alioth tipped the rebound out to Peters at the top of the key and Wheaton maintained possession thanks to Alioth's smart play. The Thunder missed a free throw attempt with two-seconds left and Coe gathered the rebound, but the guests could not get a quality shot attempt as time expired and Wheaton escaped with the 79-77 victory.

Timp led the Kohawks with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Tommy Hook scored 16 points with six rebounds. Adam McDermott and Austin Roth each scored 12 points for the guests. McDermott gathered nine rebounds and Roth had a team-high six assists.

Wheaton shot 47.1% (32-of-68) from the field, including 26.1% (6-for-23) from three-point range. Coe had a 38.2% (26-of-68) field goal percentage, including 31.8% (7-of-22) behind the three-point arc. Coe shot 75% (18-of-24) at the free throw line and Wheaton had a 56.3% (9-for-16) mark at the charity stripe. Each team collected 42 rebounds and the Kohawks held a 16-13 edge on the offensive glass.