Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team earned a 92-81 victory at home against Olivet College (2-4) on Saturday night. Wheaton improves to 7-2 with tonight's victory.
Tonight's win marked the 300
th career victory for Wheaton head coach
Mike Schauer. Schauer is now 300-191 in 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
Four Thunder players scored in double digits tonight as the Thunder received solid contributions from several players.
Aston Francis led Wheaton with 20 points. Francis also grabbed nine rebounds, distributed seven assists and blocked two shots.
Luke Peters (PICTURED LEFT) scored 18 points with six assists, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Spencer Peterson scored 14 points off the Thunder bench, shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
Nyameye Adom (PICTURED RIGHT) made a trio of three-pointers, scoring 11 points in the game. Senior
Kobe Eichelberger scored nine points and
Trevor Gunter added eight points with five rebounds and two blocked shots.
The majority of the first half was tightly contested, as there were five lead changes and three ties in the first 13 minutes of the game. Wheaton held a narrow two-point lead at 27-25 with 4:00 left in the first half. Wheaton put together a 10-3 run over a span of 2:38 to gain a nine-point lead at 37-28 with 1:08 left in the first half. Four different players scored for Wheaton in the 10-3 run. The Thunder run helped allow the hosts hold a 40-32 lead at the halftime intermission.
The Thunder maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half. Wheaton's largest lead of the game was a 20-point bulge at 80-60 with 4:40 remaining in the game.
Wheaton shot 52.4% (33-of-63) from the field tonight, including 35% (7-of-20) from three-point range. The Comets posted a 44.3% (31-of-70) field goal percentage, including 35% (7-for-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 86.4% (19-of-22) from the field tonight and Olivet had an 85.7 (12-of-14) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Comets 38-33 and Olivet held a 13-12 edge on the offensive glass.
Olivet's Tracy Edmond scored 20 points with eight assists and two steals. Trevor Manuel scored 18 points with 10 rebounds to tally a "double-double" for the guests. Dee Roberts contributed 13 points with three assists.
Wheaton travels to UW-Platteville Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff against the Pioneers. The Thunder return home next Saturday to host CCIW rival North Central at 7:00 p.m.
