PICTURED ABOVE: Kobe Eichelberger posted his second straight double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds in Wheaton's 85-77 victory over Carthage on Wednesday night.

Wheaton, Ill. - After a three-year hiatus, the Thunder men's basketball team will be returning to the CCIW Tournament. Wheaton punched its ticket on Wednesday night with a gritty 85-77 victory over Carthage to improve to 17-6 overall. The victory pulls Wheaton even with Augustana at 10-4 in the CCIW with each team still one game behind Illinois Wesleyan in the team standings. The loss drops Carthage to 12-11 overall and 7-7 in the CCIW. Wheaton will play its last home game of the regular season on Saturday night, when the Thunder play host to North Central at 7 pm.

After shooting 50% or better from the field in each of its last two games, Wheaton cooled to shoot 38.2% (26-68) from the field and and managed just 26.8% (11-41) from the three-point line. Wheaton did excel at the charity stripe, shooting 81.5% (22-27). Carthage shot 42.6% (26-61) from the field, but also struggled from deep, hitting just 25% (4-16) from the three-point line. The Red Men shot 63.6% (21-33) from the free throw line. Wheaton won the rebounding battle 45-40 with a 16-10 edge in offensive rebounds.

The Carthage defense set the tone early in the game, forcing Wheaton out of its comfort zone while allowing the visitors to jump out to an 18-11 lead over the first eight minutes. Finally finding their feet, Wheaton then rolled off an 11-0 run that saw the hosts take the lead on a thunderous fast break dunk by Jay Spencer followed by a Spencer Peterson three-pointer to put Wheaton ahead 22-18. Carthage would hang around and cut the lead to 31-28 on an Kienan Baltimore three-pointer with 3:23 remaining the half. Aston Francis then took over the game, knocking down three consecutive three-pointers, each with an increasing degree of difficulty, resulting in a person al 9-0 run that gave Wheaton a cushion and allowed the Thunder to head to halftime leading 40-30.

Ricky Samuelson continued the hot three-point stretch, starting the second half with a triple and igniting an 8-0 Thunder run over the first two minutes of the half to build Wheaton's largest lead of the night at 48-30. Not to be outdone, Carthage answered with an eight-point spurt before Francis stopped the run with a three-pointer, making it 51-38. Neither team could wrestle away momentum over the next seven minutes, with the lead settling between nine and 12 points in favor of the Thunder. A Trevor Gunter free throw at the 7:43 mark finally pushed Wheaton's lead back to 15 points at 69-54.

Carthage once again chipped away at the lead, scoring six-straight points before Francis stopped the run with what would be Wheaton's last field goal of the game with 5:15 remaining. A later five-point Carthage swing would pull the lead down to 73-67 with 2:21 to play. A free throw by Luke Peters and two more by Francis pushed the lead back up to nine points and relieved the Red Men pressure, as Wheaton closed out the 85-77 victory.

Aston Francis led all scorers with 34 points and was joined in double figures by Kobe Eichelberger's 17 points and 13 rebounds. Jay Spencer added six points and six rebounds and Luke Peters filled the stat line with four points, eight rebounds and six assists. Baltimore led the Red Men with 22 points and was aided by Brad Kruse's 20-point, 13-rebound double-double.

Prior to Saturday's game against North Central, Wheaton will honor Mark Champion, Ricky Samuelson, and Zack Kvam as part of its Senior Day festivities.

Note Worthy: With his third three-pointer tonight, Aston Francis became just the third player in program history with 200 career made three-pointers...With his 34 points tonight, Francis moves past Andy Wiele (2005-09) in 33rd on Wheaton's career scoring list with 1,237 career points...with two three-pointers tonight, Ricky Samuelson moves past Jason Senik into eighth on career three-point list with 176 made three-pointers.