Wheaton, Ill. -- The men's basketball teams from Wheaton and Elmhurst enjoyed their nail-biting first meeting of the season so much that they decided to do it all over again. In front of a lively crowd of Wheaton students, faculty, and staff, and family members from both sides, the #14 Thunder edged the #12 Bluejays by a single point, winning the CCIW Saturday night thriller, 84-83. Nyameye Adom converted a layup in the paint with five seconds remaining to give Wheaton the lead. Elmhurst's Jake Rhode managed to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, but he could not repeat his heroics from the first time these two sides met in December. With tonight's win, Wheaton improves to 14-4 overall and 6-3 in conference play, while Elmhurst slips to a CCIW record of 4-3. 

Incredibly, the two teams finished with the exact same shooting totals and percentages, as both sides went 31-63 (49.2%) from the floor. Elmhurst posted an impressive 61.1% rate from the three-point line off of an 11-18 mark, while Wheaton's 11-26 number was only good for a 42.3% total. The hosts shot an exceptional 63.3% in the first half, but the second period saw Wheaton cool off substantially by going just 12-33 from the field.The Thunder out-shot the Bluejays at the free-throw line, however, with the home team going 11-16 (68.8%) and the visitors, 10-17 (58.8%). Elmhurst grabbed 34 rebounds to Wheaton's 33 and committed one fewer turnover at an 18-17 split. 

Unsurprisingly, the other box score statistics reflected an even contest between the two sides. Wheaton edged Elmhurst in points in the paint, 34-32, while both teams converted eight second chance points. The Thunder also claimed narrow gains in points off of turnovers and fast break points, with margins of 20-14 and 15-13, respectively. The biggest discrepancy came in the form of points off the bench, as Elmhurst's substitutes outscored Wheaton's, 25-13. 

Tyson Cruickshank was the go-to guy on Saturday night for Wheaton, as the senior guard put up a team-high 21 points, drawing his career total ever closer to the 1,000-point mark. He was 4-7 from behind the three-point line on the night. Cruickshank also led the squad with five assists and added four rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot. Cade Alioth registered yet another double-double, as the big man went for 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Beyond the aforementioned game-winner, Nyameye Adom posted 14 points, two steals, and three assists, with many of his baskets coming at crucial moments in the game. Collin Uveges contributed 11 points and three rebounds, while Eli Considine and Luke Anthony both went for eight points and three boards. Considine added two assists and a pair of steals in a balanced performance. Finally, Spencer Peterson added four rebounds and five points off the bench, including dropping one in from long range.

The contest began in defensive fashion with the two teams exchanging turnovers, before Collin Uveges opened the scoring with a free throw. Elmhurst's Jay Militello registered the first four points on the night for the Bluejays, but Wheaton quickly answered with a Cade Alioth free throw and a Nyameye Adom jumper to tie the game. This action in the first two and a half minutes was followed by a 6-0 run by the Thunder, as Alioth added three more points and Uveges sank the game's first triple. But as soon as Wheaton seized the momentum, Elmhurst mounted a charge of their own, going on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 12 apiece. After a Lavon Thomas layup completed the comeback, Wheaton's Spencer Peterson drained a three-ball to restore the home side's advantage. The Bluejays managed to create a five-point cushion for themselves 90 seconds later on the back of an Ocean Johnson deep shot, but Wheaton tied the game back up within a minute after an Adom jumper and an old-fashioned three point play from Tyson Cruickshank on subsequent possessions. Johnson immediately drained another three to put Elmhurst back in front, but the hosts eventually stepped on the gas pedal in the second part of the first half and managed to create some breathing room. With five and a half minutes to go in the first period and Wheaton leading 30-28, Adom swished a fastbreak jumper, and after an Elmhurst turnover, Luke Anthony knocked in a three to push Wheaton's advantage to seven points. From that moment on, the closest the Bluejays managed to get to Wheaton's first-half lead was four points, and a Cade Alioth three-pointer with 34 seconds left ballooned Wheaton's edge up to 12. But Jake Rhode got the last laugh of the first half by converting a three of his own on the penultimate possession to send the teams into the locker room at a 50-41 split in Wheaton's favor.

Elmhurst began the second half determined to make things interesting. After a layup from Johnson, Cruickshank converted the first of his three second-half three-pointers, but the visitors rattled off the next five points to halve the deficit. Wheaton built on their impressive first half showing from beyond the arc by knocking down back-to-back shots from range, courtesy of Alioth and Cruickshank. At the 14:31 mark of the second half, Eli Considine registered a pair of free throws to give Wheaton a 66-54 lead, and it seemed as though the task might be too large for Elmhurst. But then the game began to turn in the Bluejays' favor. Jake Rhode, largely kept quiet in the first half by Wheaton's tight defending, dropped in back-to-back threes and cut the lead in half. Cruickshank responded with a three of his own thirty seconds later, and the two veteran guards threatened to take the game over and boil it down to a personal battle. An and-one from Uveges following a fastbreak jumper in the paint stretched Wheaton's lead back up to ten, but this time it was Militello's turn to answer with a long-range bucket. After Adom and Considine picked up a pair of baskets to give Wheaton a 76-65 advantage with 10:43 remaining, the Thunder suddenly went ice cold from the field and confidence started to grow on the Elmhurst bench. The Bluejays went on a nine-point unanswered run over the next 5:45, capped off by another Rhode three-pointer. Suddenly, Wheaton's firm grasp on the game had shrunk to a single-possession lead. After an extended scoreless stretch, Cruickshank stepped up to end Wheaton's drought with a pair of jumpers, and the Thunder gained an 80-75 lead with five minutes left in the contest. But one minute later, Rhode had drained another pair of three-pointers, and Elmhurst had their first lead since the midway point of the first half. A fruitless possession then followed for either side, before Cruickshank dropped in another jumper to restore Wheaton's edge at 82-81. The next three minutes saw no points scored for either side and was categorized by missed shots, turnovers, and fatigued decision-making as both sides sought the decisive play that would take this physically and emotionally draining contest out of the hands of their opponents. Finally, with the scoreboard still reading 82-81 to Wheaton, Jake Rhode attempted a three-pointer with 30 seconds to go. While this shot did not find the target, Elmhurst's Militello grabbed the loose ball, fed it to Lavon Thomas for the jumper, and the Bluejays were back on top, 83-82. Wheaton head coach Mike Schauer used the stoppage after this basket to call a timeout and draw up a potentially game-winning play for his team. To no one's surprise, the ball ended up in the hands of the preseason All-American, Nyameye Adom, on the following possession. As the clock ticked under ten seconds to go, Adom squeezed past a pair of Elmhurst defenders, hesitated in the paint, and laid the ball up off the glass and into the basket to give  Wheaton an 84-83 lead. (pictured below)  
















With only five seconds remaining, it was Jake Rhode's turn to see if he could pull a rabbit out of the hat for the second time this season against the Thunder.  Bringing the ball up the court, the star guard got a decent look from behind the three-point line and fired away before the buzzer sounded. But this time there  was to be no last-second magic for the Bluejays. The ball bounced harmlessly off the iron, and after losing in the cruelest way possible the first time around,  it was Wheaton's turn to celebrate. A game that served as the perfect advertisement for the CCIW fell the way of the Thunder, and it provided an ending that  will live long in the memory of those watching on Saturday night. 

After securing a dramatic and important victory on their home floor, the Thunder will return to King Arena on Wednesday night to take on Carroll, where the  team will look to earn its seventh conference win of the season.