Naperville, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball played its first road contest in two weeks on Saturday as the squad traveled to North Central College for a CCIW matchup against the Cardinals. North Central defeated the Thunder 61-47. Wheaton remains on the road for its next contest as the Thunder travel to Illinois Wesleyan next Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff against the Titans.

Wheaton freshman Soren Richardson led all scorers with 14 points tonight, and he added six rebounds and two assists. Nate Sock tallied 11 points with four rebounds. Senior Nick Schiavello tallied 10 points with eight rebounds. Connor Braun scored eight points, with six rebounds and one blocked shot.

The Thunder shot 34.7% (17-of-49) from the field today, including 18.2% (4-for-22) from three-point range. North Central posted a 35.6% (21-of-59) field goal percentage, including 19% (4-for-21) behind the three-point arc. The Cardinals shot 71.4% (15-of-21) at the free throw line and Wheaton had a 52.9% (9-for-17) effort at the charity stripe. North Central out-rebounded the Thunder 52-26, including a 15-0 advantage on the offensive glass. Reserves played a key role for the Cardinals as the NCC bench out-scored Wheaton's reserves 18-2.

Terrance Moncrief scored 13 points, with two assists and two steals for the hosts. Ken Thomas and Ethan Helwig each scored 10 points for the Cardinals, with Helwig collecting 11 rebounds for a "double-double". Nick Smoldt and Tyler Swierczek each tallied eight points, with nine rebounds for Swierczek.

Wheaton held an early 9-4 lead five minutes into today's contest. A layup by Thomas with 6:30 left in the first half gave NCC its first lead of the game as the hosts led 16-15. A three-pointer by Swierczek gave North Central its largest lead of the first half at 26-20 with 2:00 left before halftime. Schiavello scored the final three points of the half as he helped Wheaton trim the Cardinals' lead to 26-23 at the halftime intermission.

The first 12 minutes of the second half were tightly contested The Cardinals had a two-point lead at 46-44 when Helwig drained a three-pointer with 6:50 remaining in the game to increase the hosts' lead to 49-44. Helwig's trifecta sparked a 15-3 NCC run to close out the game as the hosts earned the 61-47 victory inside Gregory Arena.