Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton men's basketball team, ranked fifth in the most recent D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, opened its 2021-22 conference scheduled on Wednesday night at Carthage College. Wheaton rallied late and held off the Firebirds' last second efforts as the Thunder won 65-54.

All-American Nyameye Adom led the Thunder with 24 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Cade Alioth tallied his sixth 'double-double' of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds, and he added two assists. Tyson Cruickshank scored 10 points, with nine rebounds, and four assists. Eli Considine and Nate Sock each contributed six points.

Wheaton shot a season-low 34.5% (24-of-69) from the field, including 24.1% (7of-29) behind the three-point arc. The Firebirds posted a 44.1% (26-of-59) field goal percentage, including 42.9% (6-of-14) from three-point range. Wheaton shot 52.6% (10-of-19) from the free throw line and Carthage shot 50% (6-of-12) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Firebirds 45-41, including a strong 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass. Turnover proved key late in the game as the Thunder scored 11 points tonight off Carthage's 11 turnovers.

Fillip Bulatovic led Carthage with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists. Colton Sigel scored 14 points and Anthony Bernero added 10 points with five rebounds.  

Carthage led for the majority of the first half. The largest lead of the first 20 minutes for the Firebirds was a six-point bulge at 13-7 with 12:00 left before halftime. The hosts led by five points with a 36-31 advantage at the halftime intermission. Adom led the Thunder in the first half with 10 points, and five rebounds. Alioth tallied five first-half points, with six rebounds. Sigel scored 14 points for the hosts in the first half.

Sock made a three-pointer with 14:10 left in the game to give Wheaton its first lead of the second half. Sock's trifecta gave the guests a 42-39 lead. The two teams battled back-and-forth over the next few minutes. Carthage's Tyler Guest made a pair of baskets near the halfway point of the second half to give Carthage a 49-46 lead with 10:50 remaining in the contest.

Bulatovic made a turnaround jumper with 3:05 left in the game to give Carthage a 60-57 advantage, its last lead of the game. On the Thunder possession that followed Bulatovic's basket, Adom dished off a past to Alioth who coolly drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 60-60 with 2:55 remaining in the game. Carthage missed a pair of free throw attempts on their next possession, with Alioth grabbing the defensive rebound on the second miss. Wheaton missed a field goal attempt on its next possession and Bulatovic collected the defensive board, however, he turned the ball over as it was snatched by Adom.
Adom again distributed the ball, this time to Cruickshank who scored on the timely layup to give Wheaton a 64-62 lead with 1:20 left in the game.

Carthage quickly responded as Bulatovic scored on a dunk to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:10 left in the game. Each team exchanged scoreless possessions with Carthage's ending on another critical turnover. Wheaton missed a three-point attempt on the possession that followed the Redbirds' miscue, but Alioth was in place for the offensive rebound and he was fouled on his put-back attempt. The senior forward made the second of his two free throw attempts to give Wheaton a 65-64 lead with 18-seconds left in regulation. Carthage took timeout to draw up a play to have shot at winning the game, however, Carthage again turned the ball over, with Cruickshank snagging the ball and he was promptly fouled. Cruickshank missed his first attempt, and intentionally missed his second attempt and the defensive rebounds was collected by Carthage's Guest with just 0.7-seconds left in the game. The long inbound pass for the hosts was deflected out of play as time expired and Wheaton escaped with its first conference win of the season.

Wheaton remains on the road for its next matchup. The Thunder travel to Elmhurst on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff against the seventh-ranked Bluejays in a battle of top-10 ranked squads.