Elmhurst, Ill. - The Thunder men's basketball dropped an 80-69 contest to a a hot-shooting Elmhurst squad on Saturday night at R.A. Faganel Hall. The fourth-ranked Bluejays made seven of their first 10 three-point attempts and never looked back as they dropped Wheaton to 12-7 on the season and 6-4 in the CCIW. Elmhurst improves to 18-2 overall and 9-2 in the CCIW. Wheaton will return home on Wednesday night for a 7 pm tip-off against Augustana.

The Bluejays finished the night shooting 48.3% (28-58) from the field and 44.4% (8-18) from the three-point line. Wheaton shot 46.9% (28-62) from the field and 21.4% (6-28) from the three-point line. The Bluejays held a nine-point edge at the free throw line, hitting 16-of-23 attempts while Wheaton shot 7-of-12 at the charity stripe. Elmhurst held a 40-30 rebounding advantage with a 12-9 edge in offensive boards.

Wheaton's lone lead of the night came when Anajuwon Spencer drilled a three-pointer to put Wheaton ahead 3-2. Elmhurst answered with a 9-2 run to lead 11-4, but Wheaton responded with seven unanswered points to pull even at 11 on Tyson Cruickshank's three-pointer. Elmhurst took the lead for good on a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock in its ensuing possession, and went on to push the lead into double figures at 27-17 midway through the half. A three-point play by Cruickshank cut the lead down to five but a 13-3 Elmhurst run pushed the lead out to 40-25 en route to a 45-37 halftime lead.

Elmhurst quickly pushed the lead back into double figures to start the second half and reached its largest lead of the night at 61-44 with 12:11 to play. An Andrew Williams lay-up started a Thunder run that saw Wheaton hold Elmhurst without a field goal for enarly five minutes as Wheaton cut the lead down to 63-55 on a lay-up by Nyameye Adom. The Thunder run extended to 16-5 when Tyson Cruickshank's three-pointer with 6:43 brought Wheaton back to within 65-60 and forced an Elmhurst timeout.

Wheaton would get within four points on a pair of occasions, trailing 72-68 with 2:37 to play before the Bluejays were able to ice the game away at the free throw line.

Tyson Cruickshank finished the game with a game-high 25 points including four three-pointers. Nyameye Adom added 16 points and was joined in double figures by Cade Alioth with 12 points and a game-high seven rebounds and Anajuwon Spencer with 10 points. Derek Dotlich led the Bluejays with 20 points.