Wheaton, Ill. – The 10th-ranked Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team hosted its first home game in King Arena since December 11 on Wednesday night. Augustana College (8-6, 3-2 CCIW) used a late surge to defeat the Thunder 79-73 tonight. The tightly contested affair saw 15 lead changes and was tied on 11 occasions. Wheaton is now 12-3 on the season, including a 4-2 CCIW record.

Senior Tyson Cruickshank led all scorers tonight with 24 points, making five three-pointers. He distributed four assists, with four blocked shots, four assists and two steals. Nyameye Adom and Cade Alioth each scored 14 points for the Thunder, with a pair of three-pointers for each player. Adom had four assists with six rebounds. Alioth recorded eight rebounds, with four assists, and two blocked shots. Nick Schiavello scored 13 points for the hosts.

The Thunder shot 43.1% (28-65) from the field tonight, including 36.7% (11-30) behind the three-point arc. The Vikings shot a 48.5% (33-68) field goal percentage, including 46.2% (6-13) from three-point range. Wheaton shot 60% (6-10) at the free throw line and Augustan had an 87.5% (7-8) effort at the charity stripe. The Vikings out-rebounded the Thunder 43-32, including a 9-6 advantage on the offensive glass for the guests. Augustana used its rebounding edge to out-score Wheaton 10-2 in second-chance points.

Augustana had five players score in double digits tonight. Justin Bottorff scored a team-high 16 points off the Vikings bench, with four rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Tyler Knuth scored 13 points off the Augustana bench, while starters Dan Carr and Luke Johnson each scored 12 points. Carr collected 16 rebounds for the guests. Matt Hanushewsky scored 10 points, with five assists for the Vikings.

Wheaton jumped out to an early 12-4 lead over the first five minutes of tonight's contest. The Vikings responded with a 13-3 run to take a 17-15 lead with 11:30 remaining in the first half. Neither team led by more than three points for the remainder of the opening half. Thunder guard Collin Uveges buried a three-pointer as time expired to end the half to give Wheaton a 36-34 advantage at the halftime intermission.

The hosts held a narrow one-point lead at 45-44 with 14:13 remaining in the second half when Adom drove to the bucket for a layup. On Augustana's next possession, Cruickshank blocked Hanushhewsky's shot, got the rebound and made a three pointer to extend the Thunder advantage to 50-44 with 13:34 remaining in the game.

Thunder forward Spencer Peterson made a pair of free throws with 12:24 remaining in the second half to give Wheaton a six-point edge at 52-46. The Vikings responded with a 10-2 run to take a 56-54 lead with 8:45 remaining in the game. Adom and Alioth each made baskets on Wheaton's next two possessions as the hosts regained the lead at 58-56 with 8:05 remaining in the game.

The contest was tied 58-58 with 5:40 remaining in the game when Augustana's Luke Johnson made a three-pointer to give the guests a 61-59 lead. Cruickshank drained a three-pointer on the next possession, and was fouled, making the free throw for a four-point play that gave the hosts a 62-61 lead with 5:24 left in the contest. Augustana responded with eight-consecutive points to take a 69-62 lead with 3:14 remaining in the game.

The Vikings led 73-67 when Cruickshank made his fifth three-pointer of the night to trim the guests' lead to 73-70 with 33-seconds left in regulation. Augustana made a pair of three throws on their next possession to go up 75-70 with 28-seconds remaining. Alioth drained a three-pointer on Wheaton's next possession to cut the guests' lead to 75-73 with 18-seconds left in the game. The Vikings made two more free throws on their next possession. Wheaton missed a three-pointer on its next possession, the Vikings gathered the defensive rebound and closed out the game with a slam dunk to secure the 79-73 win.

Wheaton remains at home for its next league contest. The Thunder host North Central on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Noteworthy: Behind his 14 points tonight, Adom is the 28th Wheaton player to reach the 1,300-point milestone in a career as he now has 1,306 points in his Thunder tenure…Alioth's eight rebounds tonight improves his career total to 623 boards, ranking 13th in program history.