Decatur, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team traveled to Millikin University on Wednesday night for its first road contest of 2019. Wheaton's strong first half helped lead the Thunder to a 68-62 victory against the Big Blue (8-6, 2-4 CCIW). Wheaton improves to 11-4 on the season with a 4-2 record in conference play.

Aston Francis led the Thunder with 33 points, tying his season-high with seven three-pointers. The Thunder senior scored 27 first-half points, making six three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. Francis recorded his fifth "double-double" of the season, grabbing 10 rebounds. He has tallied three "double-doubles" in Wheaton's last four games.

Luke Anthony scored 12 points off the Thunder bench as he shot 3-of-4 from three-point range. Nyameye Adom (PICTURED LEFT) contributed nine points off the Wheaton bench with six rebounds. Kobe Eichelberger scored seven points with six rebounds. Anajuwon Spencer and Spencer Peterson each grabbed five rebounds and Luke Peters distributed five assists.

Wheaton shot 46.2% (12-of-25) from the field in the first half and had a 21.4% field goal percentage in the second half. The posted a 33.3% (18-of-54) field goal percentage in the contest, including 36.7% (11-of-30) from three-point range. Millikin registered a 34.8% (24-of-69) field goal percentage, including 25% (5-of-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 80.8% (21-of-26) at the free throw line and the Big Blue had a 60% (9-of-15) effort at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded Millikin 43-42 with a 17-13 advantage for the hosts on the offensive glass.

The opening 11 minutes of the game were tightly contested with four ties and a lead change. The final tie of the game was a score of 20-20 with 9:18 left in the first half. Francis drained a three-pointer with 9:10 left in the opening half to give Wheaton a 23-20 lead and the trey ignited a 15-2 run for the Thunder as Wheaton led 35-22 with 4:56 left in the first half. Francis scored 11 of Wheaton's 15 points in Wheaton's scoring surge as he made three of his six first-half three-pointers in a span of 1:25 during the run. Wheaton led the Big Blue 42-33 at halftime.

Wheaton led by as many as 11 points in the second half as the Thunder held a 47-36 advantage with 17:29 remaining in regulation. The Big Blue cut into the Wheaton lead as Wheaton held a five-point advantage at 47-42 with 14:55 left in the contest. Wheaton continued to hold the lead through the second half.

A Francis three-pointer gave Wheaton a 10-point advantage at 65-55 with 2:50 remaining in regulation. Millikin trimmed the Wheaton lead to four points at 66-62 with 30-seconds left in the game. Spencer made a pair of free throws with 21-seconds left in the contest to increase the guests' advantage to six points at 68-62. Millikin misses a pair of field goal attempts on the possession that followed, and Peterson's rebound with eight seconds remaining helped to secure the win for Wheaton.

Zach Fisher and Calvin Fisher each scored 12 points for Millikin. Jordan Cunningham added 10 points with a game-high 11 rebounds. Elijah Henry scored eight points with eight rebounds for the hosts.

Wheaton travels to Elmhurst Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the Bluejays.    

Note Worthy: Francis' 33 points tonight gives him 1,779 career points as he moves into sixth place on Wheaton's career scoring list...Francis surpassed Tim McCrary (1,754 points) and Norm Pott (1,768 points) in tonight's game...Peters became the 10th player in program history to surpass the 300 career assist milestone with his five assists tonight as he now has 302 assists in his four seasons with the Thunder.