Wheaton, Ill. - The sixth-ranked Wheaton men's basketball team improved to 3-0 tonight with an 84-62 victory against Ohio Wesleyan University (1-2) in King Arena. The Thunder win came in the opening night of the 25th annual Lee Pfund Classic. UW-Eau Claire defeated Nebraska Wesleyan 72-56 in the tournament's opening game tonight.

Wheaton (3-0) will host UW-Eau Claire (4-0) on Saturday night in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff in the tournament's championship game. The consolation game tips off at 5:00 p.m. as Ohio Wesleyan (1-2) faces Nebraska Wesleyan (1-1).

Senior guard Tyson Cruickshank led the Thunder tonight with 24 points, making a trio of three-pointers. Cruickshank also distributed six assists, with four rebounds. All-America Nyameye Adom (PICTURED LEFT) scored 20 points for the hosts on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, including 4-for-8 from three-point range. Cade Alioth continues to produce "double-doubles" in every game for Wheaton with 15 rebounds and 11 points. Alioth shot 4-for-6 from the field tonight. Eddie Scott scored nine points with two assists in his first career start. Eli Considine scored seven points with six rebounds and two assists tonight. Nick Schiavello scored six points, with three rebounds off the Thunder bench tonight.

The Thunder shot 50% (29-of-58) from the field tonight, including 38.5% (10-of-26) from three-point range. The Battling Bishops posted a 42.6% (26-of-61) field goal percentage, including an 18.2% (4-for-22) effort behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 66.7% (16-of-24) at the free throw line, while Ohio Wesleyan shot 50% (6-of-12) at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded OWU 40-31 tonight, including a 9-7 edge for the hosts on the offensive glass. Wheaton's strength on the offensive glass tonight helped the hosts to an 11-4 advantage in second chance points.

Nick Carlson led Ohio Wesleyan with 15 points tonight. Jack Clement scored 14 points with nine rebounds, while Grant Spicer added 12 points.

Wheaton never trailed in tonight's contest. The Thunder led early in the and led by as many as 22 points in the opening half with a 41-19 lead with 4:40 remaining in the first half. The hosts led 43-24 at halftime. Adom led all scorers at halftime with 16 points. Alioth scored nine first-half points with eight rebounds. The Battling Bishops trimmed the Wheaton lead to 12 points in the second half, the final occurrence was in a 54-42 Thunder lead with 12:35 left in the game. Just after that point, Scott made a three-pointer with 12:03 left in the game to ignite 11 unanswered points for the Thunder to give Wheaton a 23-point lead at 65-42 with 10:20 remaining in the game. Daniel Garza made a three-pointer in the run and Cruickshank added a pair of layups. Wheaton continued to maintain a healthy lead in earning the 84-62 Thunder victory.  Cruickshank shined in the second half with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.