Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team (23-4) opened up its participation in the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night with a 79-66 victory against Illinois College (25-3). Tonight's other First Round game in King Arena saw St. Norbert College defeat Carleton College 81-77.
Wheaton will host the Green Knights of St. Norbert on Saturday night at 6:45 p.m. in the Second Round of the Division III Tournament. Fans that would like to purchase advance tickets for tomorrow night's matchup can buy them online at
this link.
Tyson Cruickshank (PICTURED LEFT) led Wheaton in tonight's victory against Illinois College with a game-high 22 points. He added seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
TJ Askew scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Askew also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots.
Andrew Williams scored 12 points, with five assists, with four rebounds.
Nick Schiavello tallied nine points, while
Connor Braun and
Eddie Scott each scored six points.
Wheaton shot 55.8% (29-of-52) from the field, including 40.9% (9-for-22) from three-point range. The Blueboys shot a 32.9% (24-of-73) field goal percentage, including 15% (3-for-20) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 57.1% (12-for-21) at the free throw line and Illinois College posted a 68.2% (15-for-22) effort at the charity stripe. The Blueboys out-rebound the Thunder 44-35, including an 18-2 edge on the offensive glass. Wheaton's defense helped the Thunder in transition tonight as the hosts out-scored Illinois College 14-4 in fast break points.
Brenton Singleton led the Blueboys with 18 points and eight rebounds. Josh Harris scored 15 points, while Buzz Ritzel tallied 11 points with five steals. Tre Rogers tallied 10 points with 11 rebounds and three assists.
Wheaton scored the game's first five points on a layup by Scott and a three-pointer by Schiavello in the first 1:10 of the game. The Thunder never trailed in tonight's matchup. The Blueboys worked to tie the game at 15-15 with 10:18 remaining in the first half when Williams made a layup that started a 17-2 Thunder run over a span of 4:30 to give the hosts a 32-17 lead with 5:48 remaining before halftime. Wheaton led IC 41-28 at the halftime intermission.
Cruickshank led all players in the first half with 11 points. He added three rebounds, with three assists. Askew added eight first-half points and Williams had three assists in the first half. Singleton scored 10 points in the opening half, with five rebounds. Rogers scored eight points in the first half.
Wheaton's largest lead of the game was 19 points, occurring twice in the second half. Wheaton's second 19-point edge was a 56-37 lead with 12:45 remaining before halftime. The Thunder led by 17 points at 64-47 with 8:30 left in regulation when the Blueboys put together an 11-2 run that cut the hosts' lead to eight points at 66-58 with 6:10 remaining in the game. On Wheaton's possession that immediately followed IC cutting Wheaton's advantage to single digits, Cruickshank
made an acrobatic layup that brought the pro-Wheaton crowd to its feet. The layup also stymied Illinois College's scoring surge as Wheaton emerged with the 13-point victory at 79-66.
Note Worthy: Cruickshank's 22-point effort tonight now gives him 1,705 career points and makes him the 10
th player in program history to surpass the 1,700-point milestone…Cruickshank also surpassed the 400-assist milestone for his career tonight as he now has 406 dimes in his Thunder tenure…by surpassing both milestones tonight he becomes just the third player in program history to have at least 1,700 points and 400 assists, joining Tim McCrary (1,754 pts/415 assists) and Randy Pfund (1,710 pts/478 assists)…by reaching 25 wins this season Wheaton reaches 25 victories for the first time in
Mike Schauer's 14 seasons at Wheaton.
