Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team improved to 4-1 on the season with an 86-80 victory at University of Chicago (1-5) on Tuesday night. The Thunder travel to Ripon College on Saturday for a non-conference matchup against the Red Hawks.

Sophomore Nyameye Adom led the Thunder with 25 points and added four assists tonight. Tyson Cruickshank (PICTURED LEFT) scored 19 points, making a trio of three-pointers. He also grabbed six rebounds and distributed six assists. Anajuwon Spencer scored 13 points with eight rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Gavin Hawkins tallied 11 points, making three three-pointers off the Thunder bench tonight. Cade Alioth scored eight points with five rebounds. Andrew Williams contributed six points of the bench.

Wheaton shot 51.8% (29-of-56) from the field tonight, including 52.9% (9-of-17) from three-point range. The Maroons posted a 44.9% (31-for-69) field goal percentage, including 31.3% (10-of-32) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 86.4% (19-of-22) at the free throw line and Chicago posted a 72.7% (8-11) effort at the charity stripe. Chicago out-rebounded the Thunder 37-32, including a 12-4 edge on the offensive glass. Chicago's edge on the offensive glass helped the Maroons to a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points. The Thunder bench was key tonight as Wheaton's reserves out-scored Chicago's 19-10.
Chicago's Brennan McDaniel scored 30 points with five rebounds. Dominic Laravie added 23 points with five rebounds. Mattia Colangelo distributed seven assists with six rebounds.

Chicago jumped out to an early 13-6 lead with 13:30 remaining in the first half. Wheaton gradually cut into the hosts' lead to tie the game at 29-29 with 4:30 left in the first half. Chicago regained the lead and led the Thunder 39-38 at the halftime intermission.

The Maroons led 47-46 with 13:59 left in the second half when Spencer made a three-pointer to give Wheaton a 49-47 lead. Spencer's trifecta sparked a 9-2 Thunder run as Wheaton stretched out its lead to 55-47 with 11:35 remaining in the game. The Maroons scored seven unanswered points to cut the Thunder lead to 55-54 with 9:58 remaining in regulation.

Wheaton led 60-58 with 7:20 remaining in the game when a layup by Alioth started a 12-5 Thunder scoring run as Wheaton increased its lead to 72-63 with 4:20 left in the contest. The run was capped by the second of three three-pointers by Hawkins (PICTURED RIGHT) in the final seven minutes of the game. Wheaton maintained its lead to earn the 86-80 victory.