Elmhurst, Ill. – The No. 5 seed Wheaton men's basketball team battled against No. 4 seed Elmhurst College on Tuesday night in an opening round game of the 2020 CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. Elmhurst (21-5) defeated the Thunder 71-58 as the Bluejays advance to the semifinals of the tournament on Friday against No. 1 seed North Central. Wheaton closes out the 2019-20 season with a 15-11 record.
Thunder sophomore
Tyson Cruickshank led the guests tonight with 20 points, making three three-pointers. Fellow sophomore
Nyameye Adom contributed 19 points as he and Cruickshank each grabbed five rebounds.
Gavin Hawkins scored eight points, making a pair of three-pointers.
Cade Alioth (PICTURED LEFT) scored six points and he grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Wheaton shot 31.3% (21-of-67) from the field tonight, including 18.9% (7-of-37) from three-point range. The Bluejays posted a 44.8% (30-of-67) field goal percentage, shooting 26.1% (6-of-23) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 81.8% (9-of-11) at the free throw line tonight and the Bluejays had a 71.4% (5-of-7) effort at the charity stripe. Elmhurst out-rebounded the Thunder 46-39, with each team collecting 15 rebounds.
Elmhurst led the Thunder 14-4 in the first five minutes of the game tonight. The hosts' largest lead of the game was a 16-point bulge at 39-23 with 3:27 remaining first half. The Thunder scored the final five points of the first half to trim the Bluejays' lead to 39-28 at the halftime intermission. Adom (PICTURED RIGHT) led the Thunder in the opening half with 12 points for the guard.
Cruickshank and Adom made back-to-back three-pointers on Wheaton's first two possessions of the second half as the Thunder cut Elmhurst's lead to five points and 39-34 with 19:00 left in regulation. Wheaton continued to cut into the hosts' lead early in the first half as a basket by Hawkins trimmed the Elmhurst lead to three points at 44-41 with 15:31 remaining in the game.
Elmhurst led by five points at 50-45 with 10:30 remaining in regulation when a basket by the hosts sparked a 16-7 run for the Bluejays. The key run gave Elmhurst a 14-point lead at 66-52 with 5:50 remaining in regulation. Elmhurst maintained the double-digit lead to advance to the semifinals of the CCIW Tournament.
Lavon Thomas led Elmhurst with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jay Millitello scored 15 points with five rebounds for the hosts. Dominic Genco scored 12 points off the Elmhurst bench and Nick Perry added 10 points.
