Naperville, Ill. – The eighth-ranked Wheaton men's basketball team earned a key CCIW road victory at North Central College (8-6, 3-3 CCIW) on Wednesday night, 76-71. With their sixth-consecutive victory, the Thunder improve to 13-2 on the season, with a 5-1 record in conference play.
 
Tyson Cruickshank led Wheaton's four players in double digits tonight with 16 points, a game-high nine rebounds, and four assists. Cruickshank made four three-pointers tonight. Andrew Williams scored 14 points off the Thunder bench, on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 behind the three-point arc. Nick Schiavello (PICTURED LEFT) scored 14 points with two assists. Eli Considine tallied 11 points, with nine points, five rebounds and three assists for TJ Askew. Eddie Scott scored seven points and Micah Schnyders tallied five points with two assists off the bench.
 
Wheaton shot 50% (23-for-46) from the field, including 44% (11-of-25) from three-point range. The Cardinals posted a 43.5% (27-of-62) field goal percentage, shooting 15.8% (3-for-19) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 76% (19-of-25) at the free throw line tonight and NCC had an 87.5% (14-of-16) effort at the charity stripe. The Cardinals out-rebounded the Thunder tonight 35-30, with an 8-1 edge on the offensive glass for the hosts.
 
The Cardinals jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first two minutes of tonight's game. Askew made a pair of free throws and Williams hit a three-pointer as Wheaton gained its own four-point lead at 11-7 with 16:00 remaining in the first half. The Thunder continued to maintain a lead, holding an advantage as large as nine points at 41-32 with 1:59 remaining in the first half. The Thunder held a 41-34 lead at the halftime intermission.
Cruickshank led the Thunder with 14 points in the first half, and he distributed three assists. Andrew Williams scored 10 points and Eddie Scott tallied seven first-half points. Mitch Lewis led North Central with 12 points off the bench in the first half.

The Cardinals opened the second half with a 6-2 run to trim Wheaton's lead to 43-40 with 16:15 remaining in the second half when Schnyders drained a three-pointer that increased the guests' lead to 46-40.

North Central's final lead of the game was a 52-51 edge for the Cardinals with 10:00 left in regulation when Schiavello made a three pointer to give the Thunder a 54-52 lead. Schiavello's trey was part of eight unanswered points as the Thunder took a 59-52 lead with 8:45 remaining in the game. Wheaton continued to hold its lead throughout the closing minutes of the game as the Thunder emerged with the 76-71 victory in Naperville.

North Central's Lewis led all scorers tonight with 20 points. Matt Helwig added 19 points and seven rebounds. Ethan Helwig scored nine points and tied Cruickshank with a game-high nine reounds.

The Thunder host Carthage (12-2, 5-1 CCIW) on Saturday night in King Arena. The two teams enter the matchup tied for first place in the CCIW standings. Saturday's contest tips off at 7:15 p.m.

Note Worthy: Tonight's victory against the Cardinals was Wheaton's fourth-consecutive win against North Central, marking the longest Thunder win streak against NCC since a five-game streak from February 2002 to February 2004…Cruickshank moved up two spots into 25^th on Wheaton's all-time scoring list tonight with 1,450 career points as he passed Jason Senik (1,436) and Nate Frank (1,446)…he also moved up one spot on the career assists list with 345 assists as he passed Kent Raymond (344 assists) for seventh on the all-time list.