Wheaton, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's basketball team returned to King Arena for the third time in nine days on Friday night to play their first game of this year's Lee Pfund Classic. Matched up against the Piedmont University Lions for the first time in program history, the Thunder fell to their Georgia-based visitors by a score of 79-66 in the second semifinal of the evening. The loss drops Wheaton's early season record to 1-2 and means that the competition hosts will play in the 5 PM consolation game against Heidelberg University on Saturday. Piedmont booked their place in the Pfund Classic championship game tomorrow night, where they will take on the Alma Scots, who edged Heidelberg in an exciting semifinal contest earlier this evening.

The Lions tallied an impressive 41 points in the first half of tonight's non-conference clash and jumped out to an early 13-3 lead to establish a solid foundation for their eventual road win. A six-point deficit at 15-9 was as close as Wheaton came to catching Piedmont after the opening minutes, as the Lions played with speed and aggression on both ends of the floor and the Thunder struggled to put the ball in the basket. The home side scored the last six points of the first half to generate some momentum heading into the locker room, but Piedmont answered an early second-half three by the Thunder with a triple of their own to maintain their comfortable lead. Wheaton once again managed to get within six points following back-to-back three-pointers at the 17:00 mark, but the Lions responded with an 8-0 run and held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Piedmont shot over 53% from the floor on Friday night, while Wheaton had to settle for a 40% figure and managed to make just a third of their shot attempts in the first half. The Thunder connected on 13 of their 35 three-point attempts, but the Lions knocked down four threes in the first half to help build their early advantage. Wheaton had a solid night at the free throw line, going 9-12 from the stripe. The hosts edged their visitors in total rebounding, but the Lions earned impressive disparities in shot-blocking and steals and won the turnover battle, 19-10. Points in the paint and points off of turnovers both went a long way towards accounting for Piedmont's victory tonight, with the Lions earning 48-12 and 24-9 advantages in those categories, respectively.

Kyle Neibch knocked down a team-high five three-pointers to lead the way for Wheaton in scoring tonight with 17 points. Soren Richardson tallied 11 points while also earning a pair of assists and four rebounds. Connor Braun went for nine points and five boards, while fellow grad transfer RJ Veliz accounted for three assists, four rebounds, and the Thunder's lone blocked shot. Steven Schultz posted a team-leading five assists, and seven other Wheaton players got on the scoreboard tonight.