Rock Island, Ill. - For the first time since 1960, the Thunder men's basketball team has punched its ticket to the Final Four, rallying from 14 points down in the second half for an unforgettable 91-87 victory over Marietta. This will be Wheaton's first Division III Final Four appearance as their 1956 and 1957 tournament appearances were in the NCAA College Division Tournament. Aston Francis put the exclamation point on a career night with back-to-back three-pointers in the final minute to finish with a Division III Tournament record 62 points as Wheaton improved to 23-8 on the season. Marietta, ranked 22nd in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, ends its season with a final record of 23-7. Wheaton's National Semifinal game will be a rematch of the Lee Pfund Classic Championship game, with the Thunder facing UW-Oshkosh. The Thunder defeated the Titans 86-74 in November at King Arena behind 45 points from Aston Francis.

Marietta led for much of the second half, leading by as many as 14 points with 16:02 left in regulation. The Pioneers' final double-digit lead was a 10-point bulge at 71-61 with 8:00 left in the game. The Thunder closed the gap and closed out for the win. Head coach Mike Schauer noted, " They [Marietta] are so good. We had a hard time finding a way to stop them." He continued, "I thought our guys did a great job of just staying patient. I said two things in a couple of our timeouts, I said 'a 10-point lead against them is more like a four to six point lead because of the pace of play'. The second thing I told them was 'just give us a shot to win. Fight right now to make sure we have a possession to win it."

Francis (PICTURED LEFT) erupted for 17 points in the first five minutes of the game, making five of his first six three-point attempts. The senior sensation finished shooting 19-of-37 from the field and 12-of-27 on three-point attempts. His 12 made three-pointers establishes a new school record breaking the record held by Ben Panner and also breaks the NCAA Division III Tournament single-game record for three-pointers. His 62 points breaks the Division III Tournament single game scoring record previously held by Guilford's Ben Strong in the Quakers' 129-128 triple overtime victory over Lincoln (Pa.) in 2007. Francis also broke the Division III single-season scoring record as he raises his 2018-19 point total to 1,052 points.

"Two things about Aston," noted Schauer (PICTURED RIGHT). "People don't see the amount of work that he puts in. I see it and it is ridiculous, it is an immense amount of work. He told me after the game that he missed a similar shot, to the two he made at the end of the game, against Augustana at our place. He practiced it hundreds of times so that the next time he had it he would make it. That is a lot of work."

Luke Anthony  joined Francis in double figures, tallying 12 points. Nyameye Adom added nine points, Luke Peters finished with five points, and Anajuwon Spencer scored three points. Francis led all players with 12 rebounds.

Wheaton led 20-12 with 15:30 left in the first half as Francis made five three-pointers in the first five minutes of the game, scoring 17 of the first 20 points for the Thunder. Marietta trailed by one when the Pioneers' Jason Ellis made a three-pointer to give his team a two-point lead at 45-43 with 40-seconds left in the first half. The Pioneers led 45-43 at the halftime intermission. Francis scored 35 first-half points on 13-of-21 shooting, including 7-of-12 from three-point range.

The Pioneers started the second half with a 15-3 run in the first four minutes as Marietta led 60-46 with 16:00 remaining in regulation. The Pioneers' final double-digit lead was a 10-point bulge at 71-61 with 8:00 left in the game. Francis made a pair of free throws with 7:59 remaining in the game and Anthony sank a pair at the charity stripe for four-consecutive Wheaton points. Anthony and Francis then followed with back-to-back three-pointers to highlight a 10-2 Wheaton run as the Thunder trimmed Marietta's lead to 73-71 with 5:57 left in regulation.

The Pioneers held a 77-74 lead with 4:23 remaining in the game when a Francis three-pointer tied the contest at 77-77. Marietta's Tim Kreeger made a field goal to give his team a two-point lead and Adom followed with a basket to tie the contest at 79-79 with 3:19 remaining. On Marietta's next possession, Adom stole the ball and raced to the basket for a layup as he gave Wheaton its first lead of the second half at 81-79 with 3:03 remaining in the game. Marietta's Anthony Wallace and Francis traded baskets as the Thunder led 83-81 with 2:39 remaining. Marietta responded with a pair of field goals to give the Pioneers an 85-83 lead with 44-seconds left in the game.

Francis drained a step-back three-pointer with 33-seconds left in the game to give Wheaton an 86-85 advantage. The trey gave the senior 59 points in the game as he tied Ben Strong's Division III Tournament scoring record in the process. Marietta's Lukas Isaly scored a layup at the basket on his team's next possession to give the Pioneers an 87-86 lead with 24-seconds remaining. Francis again made a step-back three-pointer with 15-seconds left in the game to give Wheaton a two-point advantage at 89-87. The trifecta improved his total for the game to 62 points as he surpassed Strong's Division III record.

Isaly attempt another layup on Marietta's next possession, but Spencer blocked the shot and Adom collected the rebound with three seconds remaining. Adom was fouled and made both free throws to secure Wheaton's victory and its first NCAA Division III Final Four appearance. 

Wheaton shot 46.4% (26-of-56) from the field, including 40.5% (15-of-37) behind the three-point arc. Marietta posted a 43% (34-of-79) field goal percentage, including 23.3% (7-of-30) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder shot 88.9% (24-of-27) at the free throw line and the Pioneers had a 63.2% (12-of-19) effort at the charity stripe tonight. The Pioneers out-rebounded the Thunder 42-37 tonight, including 14-3 on the offensive glass.   

Isaly led the Pioneers with 16 points and was joined in double figures by Tim Kreeger with 15 points and Kyle Dixon with 13 points.

Note Worthy: Wheaton's 23 wins is tied for the fourth-highest single-season victory total in program history and the most since Mike Schauer's 2011-12 squad was 23-7...Francis has made 168 three-pointers this season, the second-highest single-season trey total in Division III history...with his 62 points, Francis moves past Kent Raymond into second place on Wheaton's career scoring list and fifth place on the CCIW career scoring list with 2,352 career points...Francis now has 383 career three-pointers, the seventh-higest mark in Division III history.