Wheaton, Ill. -- Despite enjoying an unbeaten start to the season and home court advantage, the Thunder men's basketball team knew they were in for a tough matchup against fellow unbeatens John Carroll in Saturday night's Lee Pfund Classic championship game. The visiting Blue Streaks clamped down defensively and staved off a late Wheaton comeback to top their hosts, 60-56, and became the first visiting team to win the Pfund Classic since WashU in November of 2014. As a result of tonight's narrow loss, the Thunder drop to 3-1 in the young campaign.

    








    Tyson Cruickshank (pictured left) was named to the All-Tournament team for his performances across both of this weekend's games. The veteran point guard scored a joint team-high 14 points on Saturday and contributed a game-best seven assists, as well as blocking two shots and gathering in three rebounds. Eli Considine posted a double-double for the Thunder, scoring 14 and securing ten boards along with picking up a team-best two steals. TJ Askew, Wheaton's second representative on the All-Tournament team, joined Cruickshank and Considine on 14 points and tallied six rebounds and two assists. Nick Schiavello contributed eight points for the hosts. 

    Wheaton struggled from the floor in Saturday's contest, shooting 35.5% across both halves, including going 9-30 in the second half and making just one three-pointer. The Thunder made 11 of their 13 free throws, good for an 84.6% mark. John Caroll's high press and energetic on-ball defending proved difficult to overcome for both of their opponents this weekend and was ultimately key to the Blue Streaks' victory in the competition. The visitors from Ohio shot 43.9% from the field and connected on four of their five shots from beyond the arc in the first half. Wheaton earned narrow advantages in most of the statistical categories apart from shooting, but John Carroll out-rebounded their hosts by a 41-35 margin and got more production from the bench, with their substitutes scoring 14 points to Wheaton's four.

    Tournament MVP Luke Frazier registered the first basket of the game to put John Carroll on the board, and a three-pointer by the other Blue Streak All-Tournament honoree, Luke Chicone, pushed the advantage to five. Considine, Askew, and Cruickshank all scored unanswered buckets for the Thunder to make it 11-9 in favor of the hosts, before the latter nailed a long-range jumper to give Wheaton their largest lead of the game at five points. A six-point run from JCU followed soon after, and the two teams traded baskets as either side looked to seize control of the game. Two free throws and a layup in the paint pushed John Carroll's edge up to seven points, but Wheaton refused to be kept out of the contest and chipped away at the deficit. A driving layup by Andrew Williams, one of the standout performers in Wheaton's win over Hanover on Friday, cut the guests' lead down to one point with five minutes remaining in the half. John Carroll jumped back up to a five-point tilt and lofted in a three-pointer with 20 seconds left, but Cruickshank tabbed Wheaton's last five points before halftime to trim the Blue Streaks' lead down to three at the intermission.

TJ Askew (pictured right) scored the first three points of the second half to tie the game at 35 apiece, but John Carroll would soon retake the lead for good. Eli Considine earned a
layup in the paint to make it 45-44 in favor of the visitors, but eight straight points for the Blue Streaks followed, and the Thunder were forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the game. With John Carroll leading by six at the 2:45 mark, Cruickshank sank a pair of free throws to cut into the lead, and Askew answered the following John Carroll layup to put the score at 60-56. But the Blue Streaks kept Wheaton off the scoreboard in the final two minutes, and this scoreline proved to be the ultimate result. John Carroll improved to 4-0 on the season with tonight's victory and will likely find themselves ranked in the D3hoops.com Top 25 in the near future after a successful weekend.

Wheaton will look to get back to winning ways when they head to Lake Forest on Tuesday night to take on the Foresters in a non-conference road matchup.