Waukesha, Wis. – The Wheaton men's basketball team concluded the 2017-18 regular season on Tuesday night with a 71-66 loss at Carroll University (12-13, 8-8 CCIW). Wheaton is now 17-8 overall and 10-6 in CCIW play.

Wheaton is the No. 4 seed this weekend in the upcoming tournament in Rock Island, Illinois. The Thunder will face No. 1 seed Augustana in Friday's second semifinal game at 7:00 p.m. Friday's action opens at 5:00 p.m. when No. 2 seed Illinois Wesleyan takes on No. 3 seed North Central.

Aston Francis led the Thunder tonight with 27 points, making seven three-pointers. Francis distributed seven assists with four rebounds. Luke Peters (PICTURED LEFT) scored 11 points with three steals.

Ricky Samuelson scored eight points with four rebounds. Jay Spencer tallied six points with eight rebounds for the guests. Kobe Eichelberger grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and scored five points. Spencer Peterson added six rebounds and Zack Kvam recorded four assists.

The contest was tied 6-6 just 2:20 into the game and the Thunder put together a 15-4 run over a span of 4:30 to Wheaton a 21-10 lead with 13:07 remaining in the opening half. Francis scored eight of Wheaton's 15 points in the run. The Thunder maintained a lead for much of the half, including a 39-28 lead with 1:36 left in the opening half on a basket by Mark Champion. Carroll's Tanner Zaeske made a three-pointer with six seconds left in the first half to cap a 7-1 run over the final 1:30 of the first half for the Pioneers. Francis led all players at halftime with 15 points.

Carroll out-scored the Thunder 9-1 in the first 2:30 of the second half to give the hosts a 44-41 lead with 17:30 left in the game. A layup by Peters at the 17:07 mark of the second half sparked a 10-2 run for the Thunder as Wheaton regained the lead at 51-46 with 14:25 left in the game. Peters registered six of Wheaton's 10 points in the run.

The Thunder led 63-57 with 6:00 remaining in the game when a three-pointer by Carroll's Troy Howat trimmed the Thunder lead to tree points and was the start of a crucial 10-1 run for the Pioneers to give the hosts a 67-64 advantage with 2:18 remaining in the game.

Eichelberger grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a put-back basket with 1:54 left in the game to cut the Pioneers' lead to one point at 67-66. Carroll's Kale Maupin had a layup on the Pioneers' next possession to extend the hosts' lead to 69-66.  The teams traded scoreless possessions until there were 17 seconds left in the game when Carroll's Tanner Zaeske made two free throws to account for the 71-66 final score.

The Thunder shot 43.9% (25-of-57) from the field, including 34.8% (8-for-23) behind the three-point arc. Carroll posted a 41% (25-of-61) field goal percentage, including 27.3% (6-for-22) from three-point range. The hosts shot 88.2% (15-of-17) at the free throw line and Wheaton had a 42.1% (8-for-19) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded Carroll 42-34, including a 12-8 edge on the offensive glass.

Zaeske led Carroll with 15 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Ingebrightsen and Joel Heesch each registered 14 points. Heesch had a game-high nine assists and Ingebrightsen  grabbed eight rebounds.

Note Worthy: Francis concluded the regular season with 86 three-pointers in CCIW play to shatter his own conference record of 67 that he established last year…Francis now has 686 points this year for the second-highest single-season point total in program history as he moved past Rob Willey's 659 points (1987-88); Mel Peterson's 677 points (1957-58) and Tom Dykstra's 682 points (1969-70)…Francis now has 1,284 career points for 28^th on the program's all-time scoring list.