Bloomington, Ill. – The trip through "March Madness" for the Thunder men's basketball team ended on Friday night in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Sectional Semifinal. Illinois Wesleyan defeated the Thunder 77-73. Wheaton ends the season with a 22-7 record, while the Titans advance to face Wabash College on Saturday night in the Sectional Final.
 
Nyameye Adom led the Thunder tonight with 19 points. Nick Schiavello (PICTURED LEFT) had a terrific outing tonight with 14 points and five rebounds. Schiavello shot 5-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Luke Anthony scored 13 points, with four rebounds. Anthony made three three-pointers. Collin Uveges scored 12 points, with two assists. Cade Alioth scored nine points, with eight rebounds, and two assists. Tyson Cruickshank scored six points, with six rebounds, and four assists.

Wheaton shot 43.9% (25-of-57) from the field, including 34.5% (10-for-29) behind the three-point arc. The Titans shot a 50.8% (31-of-61) field goal percentage, including 27.8% (5-of-18) from three-point range. The Thunder shot 81.3% (13-of-16) at the free throw line and the Titans had a 90.9% (10-of-11) effort at the charity stripe. Illinois Wesleyan out-rebounded the Titans 34-30, including 9-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The hosts had a strong effort under the basket tonight as IWU out-scored the Thunder 44-30 in the paint.

Matthew Leritz scored 23 points, with six rebounds and three assists for Illinois Wesleyan. Luke Yoder tallied 19 points, with six rebounds. Peter Lembesis tallied 12 points, with five rebounds and Cory Noe registered 11 points with six rebounds, and five assists.

Both teams started the game well, with Wheaton leading 13-12 with 15:40 remaining before halftime. Nick Schiavello started strong making a pair of three-pointers for Wheaton in the first two minutes of the game. The Titans' largest lead of the first half was a six-point advantage at 35-29 with 2:00 left in the opening period. Wheaton closed the half strong IWU held a three-point edge at the halftime intermission, 37-34.

Schiavello shot 4-for-6 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range in the first half as he tallied 11 points in the first 20 minutes. Luke Anthony scored 11 first-half points off the Thunder bench. Anthony shot 4-for-7 from the field, including 3-for-5 behind the three-point arc. Cade Alioth led the Thunder on the glass with five rebounds, and Anthony (PICTURED RIGHT) added four boards. Matthew Leritz scored 12 points, with five rebounds, and two assists to lead IWU.  

Adom made the first basket of the second half and Uveges made a three-pointer as the Thunder tied the game at 39-39 with 19:00 left in the game. The Titans responded with a 9-1 run as the hosts took an eight-point lead at 48-40. The Titans led by seven points on 12 occasions in the second half, however, Wheaton continually cut into the hosts' lead.

Noe capitalized on an IWU offensive rebound and scored a layup to give the hosts a 71-64 lead with 3:57 remaining in the game. Alioth made one of two free throw attempts on Wheaton's next possession. Cruickshank (PICTURED LEFT) gathered the defensive rebound on IWU's next possession and Schiavello made a three-pointer with 3:02 left in the game to cut the Titans' lead to three points a 71-68. The Titans turned the ball over on their next possession and Wheaton's shot attempt to trim the lead to one point was missed and the Titans gathered a defensive rebound. Yoder made a basket, the Wheaton turned the ball over and the Titans scored on a slam dunk to extend their lead back to seven points at 75-68 with 1:21 left in the game.

Adom made a three-pointer on Wheaton's next possession to trim the Titans' advantage to 75-71 with 1:05 left in the game. Yoder made two free throws to move his team's lead to six points with 32-seconds left in the game. On Wheaton's next possession, Cruickshank and Alioth gathered offensive rebounds to setup an Adom layup with 16-seconds remaining to trim the IWU lead to 77-73, resulting in the final score.

Note Worthy: Nyameye Adom ends his career with 1,603 points in 100 games, as he finishes his career as the 10th-leading scorer in program history...he is the 10th Wheaton player to surpass 1,600 career points...with 624 points this season, Adom tied Mel Peterson (1959-60) for the ninth-highest single-season point total in program history...Wheaton's two NCAA Tournament wins in last weekend's St. Louis Regional gives head coach Mike Schauer 12 NCAA Tournament victories in his Wheaton tenure, now the most ever by a Wheaton coach as he (PICTURED RIGHT) surpassed Lee Pfund's 11 NCAA Collegiate Division Tournament wins from 1956-57...Alioth concludes his career with 771 career rebounds to finish ninth on Wheaton's all-time rebounds list...Adom ends his career 12th in program history with 286 career assists and Cruickshank heads into next season 14th in assists (270)...Cruickshank is 11th in Wheaton history with 166 career three-pointers and Adom is 15th with 140 career treys.