Chicago, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team (5-2, 0-1 CCIW) dropped a 68-65 matchup at North Park (2-6, 1-0 CCIW) on Saturday night in the CCIW opener for both teams. Wheaton led for much of the game; however, the Vikings took the lead for good at 61-59 with 3:05 left in regulation.
A basket by Wheaton's
Jack Bennett gave the Thunder an eight-point lead at 19-11 with 11:11 remaining in the first half. Wheaton still maintained an eight-point advantage at 25-17 with 6:15 remaining in the first half. North Park's Matt Szuba made a layup at that point to spark a 9-1 run for the Vikings over the final 6:15 of the first half. The hosts run to close out the half allowed for a 26-26 tie at halftime.
North Park's Kindrel Morris drained a three-pointer with 15:40 remaining in the second half to give The Vikings a 36-33 lead. However, the Thunder responded with nine-consecutive points to give the guests a 42-36 lead with 13:00 left in regulation.
Aston Francis scored seven of Wheaton's nine points in the 9-0 run.
The Vikings responded with a 15-4 run over a span of 5:10 as the hosts regained the lead at 51-46 with 7:55 remaining in regulation. The two teams battled back and forth over the next 4:50 with two ties and three lead changes. Wheaton led 59-58 with 3:05 left in the game when North Park's Cardell Simmons drained a three-pointer to give the hosts a 61-59 lead. North Park never relinquished its lead after Simmons' trifecta.
A pair of Toby Marek free throws increased NPU's lead to 66-60 with 0:39 left in regulation. Francis made his fifth free throw of the night with 0:33 remaining to trim the North Park lead to 66-63. The Vikings' Toby Marek was quickly fouled and made two free throws to extend the hosts' lead to 68-64 with 0:30 left in the game. Thunder freshman
Tyson Cruickshank gathered the offensive rebound off his own missed three-pointer and was fouled. The newcomer made both free throws to cut the NPU lead to 68-65 with 0:10 left in regulation. Wheaton quickly fouled Morris, who missed both free throws. Thunder forward
Anajuwon Spencer gathered the rebound and Wheaton's three-point attempt to tie the game hit off the rim to Cruickshank. The freshman attempted a shot to no avail and North Park escaped with the 68-65 victory.
Francis led all players with 32 points. The senior collected eight rebounds with four assists. Fellow senior
Kobe Eichelberger scored 15 points with six rebounds and three assists. Bennett scored six points,
Spencer Peterson tallied five points and
Trevor Gunter added four points for the guests. Spencer grabbed a team-high nine rebound and Cruickshank collected seven boards.
Wheaton posted a 38.5% (26-of-65) field goal percentage, including 23.1% (6-of-26) behind the three-point arc. North Park shot 36.9% (24-of-65) from the field, with a 25% (7-of-28) effort from three-point range. North Park shot 65% (13-of-20) at the free throw line tonight and the Thunder had a 60% (9-of-15) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Vikings 46-41, including a 13-11 edge on the offensive glass.
Marek scored a team-high 28 points with eight rebounds and four assists to lead North Park. Vegard Tangen and Cardell Simmons each scored 12 points for the hosts. Szuba collected a game-high 12 rebounds.
Wheaton remains in conference play next Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff at Illinois Wesleyan.
