Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team hosted 11th-ranked North Central on Saturday night in King Arena in the regular season finale for both teams. The Cardinals (21-4, 14-2 CCIW) hung on defeat the Thunder 78-71.

Wheaton (15-10, 9-7) will be the No. 5 seed in next week's CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. The Thunder will play a First Round game on Tuesday at fourth-seeded Elmhurst (20-5, 11-5 CCIW). The winner of Tuesday's game at R.A. Faganel Hall advances to a Semifinal game next Friday at North Central's Gregory Arena.

Nyameye Adom led the Thunder with 17 points tonight. Thunder junior Cade Alioth scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, with four assists. Tyson Cruickshank scored 14 points, while Andrew Williams scored 13 points off the Thunder bench. Cruickshank and Williams each made three three-pointers for the Thunder. Luke Anthony scored 12 points for the hosts. Cruickshank distributed a game-high five assists and Adom added four assists.

The Thunder shot 41.7% (25-of-60) from the field, including 40.7% (11-of-27) behind the three-point arc. North Central posted a 50% (25-of-50) field goal percentage in the game, including 52.4% (11-of-21) from three-point range. Wheaton shot 58.8% (10-of-17) from the free throw line and the Cardinals had a 58.6% (17-of-29) effort at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the guests 40-32, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive glass.

Wheaton scored the first eight points tonight, over the first three minutes of the game. Wheaton led 14-8  with 14:05 remaining int he first half when North Central's Matt Cappelletti made a basket that started a string of 21-consecutive points to give North Central a 29-14 lead with 8:30 remaining before halftime. Wheaton fought back over the closing five minutes of first half to cut North Central's lead to seven points at 40-33 at the halftime intermission.

Wheaton out-scored the Cardinals 9-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to trim North Central's lead to 44-42 with 16:00 remaining in regulation. The Cardinals responded to build their lead to as many 11 points as the guests led 63-52 with 7:00 remaining in the game. The closest Wheaton could get in the final seven minutes of the contest was a five-point deficit with 0:05 remaining in the game.

Blaise Meredith and Cappelletti each scored 18 points to lead the Cardinals. Michael Pollack scored 15 points and Connor Raridon added 13 points. Cappelletti led the guests with nine rebounds and Raridon added seven boards.