Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder men's basketball team, ranked 21^st in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, won a thrilling battle of nationally ranked foes on Saturday night in a 74-73 victory against No. 17 Calvin University (7-1). Wheaton improves to 7-1 with tonight's drama-filled win on the King Arena court.

 Wheaton overcame a 12-point deficit with just less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half to rally for the win tonight. Junior forward Nick Schiavello (PICTURED LEFT) made a three-pointer with 56-seconds left to tie the game at 71-71. Calvin's Jalen Overway made a layup on the Knights' next trip down the court to give the guests a 73-71 lead with 44-seconds left in regulation. The Thunder missed a layup attempt on the possession that followed Overway's basket. The Knights collected the defense rebound and had an opportunity to increase the Calvin lead, however a turnover by the guests gave Wheaton a new life.

Wheaton scrambled in a frenetic possession that followed and got the ball in the near corner to Tyson Cruickshank who had shot fake and then with tremendous poise drained a three-pointer to give the hosts a 74-73 lead with 19-seconds remaining. A Calvin turnover on its next possession gave Wheaton the ball and the Knights committed a foul with one-second left to send the hosts to the line. Both shots at the charity stripe were missed and time ran off the clock in collecting the final rebound.

Eli Considine led Wheaton with a team-high 21 points, making four three-pointers and he snatched six steals in an impressive effort. Schiavello scored 14 points, making a trio of three-pointers Cruickshank scored 12 points, with eight rebounds, and eight assists. TJ Askew scored nine points, with seven rebounds. Eddie Scott was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in scoring eight points and distributing four assists.

The Thunder shot 40.7% (22-of-54) from the field, including 41.9% (13-of-31) behind the three-point arc. Calvin posted a 57.1% (32-of-56) field goal percentage, with 33.3% (5-of-15) from three-point range. The Thunder shot 77.3% (17-of-22) at the free throw line and the Knights had a 66.7% (4-of-6) effort at the charity stripe. Calvin held a 32-26 edge in rebounding, with Wheaton holding a 6-4 edge on the offensive glass. Calvin was strong in the post tonight with a 50-14 edge in the paint. Wheaton scored 39 of its 74 points from three-point range and tallied an additional 17 points at the charity stripe. Wheaton's defense helped get the hosts in transition tonight as the Thunder out-scored the Knights 18-7 in fast-break points.

Wheaton started tonight's contest strong with a 21-10 advantage in the first nine minutes of the contest. Calvin responded with a 14-3 run to tie the game at 24-24 with 6:30 remaining before halftime. The remainder of the first half was tightly contested as the Knights led 38-35 at the halftime intermission.

Overway made a basket for the Knights with 16:30 remaining in the second half to spark a 13-2 run that gave the guests a 57-45 lead with 11:30 remaining in regulation. Considine made a critical three-pointer with 9:49 left in the game that was the first basket in an 11-0 Wheaton run that trimmed Calvin's lead to 62-61 with 8:30 left in regulation. Considine scored six of Wheaton's 11 points in the run.

Calvin held a six-point lead at 69-63 with 3:54 left in the game when Wheaton put together an 8-2 run that included Schiavello's three pointer with 56-seconds remaining to setup the game-ending sequences.

Wheaton is off until Saturday, December 10 when Elmhurst visits King Arena at 7:15 p.m. a key conference contest.