Wheaton, Ill. -- King Arena was the place to be on Saturday night, as the two teams atop the conference standings faced off for the chance to claim sole possession of first place in the CCIW as the halfway point of the conference schedule approaches. The Wheaton men's basketball team, ranked eighth in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, played host to Carthage, a team that had won 12 out of its last 13 games, in front of a large and boisterous crowd. What started out as a comfortable night for the Thunder slowly turned into a competitive matchup, and the hosts needed to dig deep to seal the key conference win. When the final buzzer sounded, Wheaton had emerged victorious by a score of 76-70 to claim their seventh straight win and confirm their status as the only remaining one-loss team in the CCIW.
Tyson Cruickshank was the standout performer in tonight's contest, tallying game-highs of 27 points and six assists to help Wheaton earn the win.
The Thunder came out looking to make a statement, knocking down four shots from beyond the arc in their first five possessions. Before Carthage had any time to establish their offensive game plan, the home side was stretching their lead even more. Wheaton opened the game on a 19-2 blitz, capped by two-point baskets courtesy of
Andrew Williams and Cruickshank. But the Firebirds drained a three on their next possession, and this proved to be a momentum-booster as the visitors from the north went on a 9-0 run of their own to get back in the game. The Thunder's lead had been trimmed to 30-18 with seven and a half minutes left in the first half, but Carthage's shots stopped falling and another 12-point stretch from the hosts gave Wheaton its biggest lead of the game at 24 points. The first half was punctuated in appropriate fashion when Wheaton grabbed a defensive rebound off of a missed three-point attempt then ran down the clock before Cruickshank found
Eli Considine for a long-range jump shot at the horn. The Thunder went into the locker room with a commanding 47-25 lead and a vocal crowd thrilled at the first half display they had just witnessed.
But any expectation of a blowout win for the hosts proved premature, as Carthage out-scored Wheaton by 16 points in the second half and even managed to make it a one-possession game in the final minute. The Firebirds looked completely reinvigorated after halftime and refused to let their fellow conference leaders win the easy way. Despite a strong beginning to the second period from Carthage, the Thunder still led by 14 points at the 6:00 mark after Williams scooped in a layup in the lane to make it 67-53. Wheaton would miss their next four shots, however, and Carthage mounted another nine-point run to pull within five and plant a seed of doubt in the opposition's mind. Cruickshank would register Wheaton's only basket from open play in the final six minutes of the game when he notched a layup with just under a minute remaining. But the Thunder held their nerve from the free throw line when Carthage started fouling and came up with the game-clinching defensive rebound in the final ten seconds to seal a frantic and crucial win.
Wheaton posted a solid 48.1% shooting mark from the floor in Saturday's victory, including a sizzling 51.6% tally in the first half. Carthage's shooting numbers were the mirror image of Wheaton's, as the Firebirds shot over 50% in the second half and finished the game with a 41.5% total. Interestingly, the away side held the advantage in almost all of the statistical categories, including rebounds, turnovers forced, points in the paint, and bench production. But Wheaton won the game from two specific areas: the free throw line and three-point range. The Thunder knocked down nine triples and held Carthage to five of their own, and Wheaton shot 74% from the charity stripe while their guests left seven points at the line.
Cruickshank also tallied eight rebounds and a pair of steals to go with his 27 points and six dimes.
TJ Askew was one board short of a double-double, going for 13 points and nine rebounds. He also collected three assists and accounted for Wheaton's only blocked shot.
Eli Considine's nine points and four rebounds were an added bonus to his noteworthy defensive performance against Carthage's Fillip Bulatovic, one of the most talented players in the CCIW.
Andrew Williams once again came off the bench to change the game for Wheaton, earning 15 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action.
Micah Schnyders contributed seven points in 18 minutes off the bench, including multiple well-timed offensive plays that helped break up Carthage's momentum.
After winning one of the most important games of their season so far, the Thunder men's team will head back out on the road next week to face Carroll in Waukesha on Wednesday night.
