GAME STATS Lake Forest, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team continued its two-game road string to open the 2024-25 season on Tuesday night with a non-conference contest at Lake Forest College (0-2). The Thunder emerged from Lake Forest's Sports & Recreation Center with a 68-64 victory as Wheaton improves to 1-1 on the season.

Sophomore Soren Richardson led Wheaton in scoring for the second-consecutive game as he scored a team-high 18 points and added four rebounds. Senior Noah Hedrick shot 8-for-13 from the field tonight in scoring 16 points, one point shy of his career-high 17 points at Calvin last December. Hedrick grabbed five rebounds for the guests. Steven Schultz came off the Thunder bench to score 10 points, on 4-for-4 shooting from the field that included one three-pointer. Freshman Kyan VanderWoude scored seven points, and he grabbed six rebounds. Freshman Devin Martin scored six points, with two assists and he collected a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Christian Veirs and junior Kyle Neibch each scored five points.

Wheaton posted a 43.3% (26-for-60) field goal percentage tonight, including 22.2% (4-for-18) from three-point range. The Foresters shot 39.0% (23-for-59) from the field, including 33.3% (6-of-18) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder had a 70.6% (12-for-17) effort at the free throw line and the hosts shot 60% (12-for-20) at the charity stripe. Lake Forest out-rebounded the Thunder 39-37 as the hosts held a 9-8 edge on the offensive glass.
Alex Knight led the Foresters with 22 points. Michael Michaud recorded a 'double-double' for the hosts as he scored 12 points with 10 rebounds.

Lake Forest scored the first four points of the game tonight as the Foresters led 16-9 through the first eight minutes of the game. Schultz made a jumper with 11:31 remaining in the first half to spark a 9-1 Thunder run as Wheaton gained its first lead of the game at 18-17 with a 9:20 remaining in the opening half. Schultz made a three-pointer to conclude the Wheaton run. Schultz scored five points in the 9-1 run and Hedrick made a pair of layups to score four points in the Thunder surge.

Lake Forest responded with a trey after Schultz's three-pointer as the hosts went on a 10-3 run that gave LFC a 27-22 lead with 6:40 remaining in the first half. Wheaton battled back to close out the half as Wheaton led 34-32 at the halftime intermission. Richardson led all players in first-half scoring as he scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes. Hedrick scored eight first-half points and VanderWoude added seven points with five rebounds. Knight led the Foresters first-half efforts with 10 points and Michaud grabbed nine rebounds.

Wheaton opened the second half with baskets by Neibch and Richardson to give the guests a 38-33 lead just two minutes into the second half. The second half was tightly contested as Wheaton never trailed; however, the Thunder never held a lead larger that six points.

Knight made a three-pointer for the Foresters with 11:30 remaining in the game to tie the contest at 49-49. Hedrick immediately responded after Knight's trey with a jumper and Martin followed about two-and-a-half with a pair of baskets, including one fast-break layup following his own defensive rebound as the sequence gave Wheaton a six-point lead at 55-49 with 8:30 remaining in the game.

The Foresters again battled back to trim Wheaton's lead to 60-59 with 4:35 left in the game. Neibch grabbed an offensive rebound that allowed Martin to score a basket that gave Wheaton a three-point lead with 3:45 left in the contest. Martin collected the defensive board on LFC's next offensive possession, and Schultz made a layup to give the guests a 64-59 advantage with 3:05 remaining. Wheaton maintained a lead over the final three minutes to close out the game in earning the 68-64 victory.

Wheaton plays its first home game of the 2024-25 season on Saturday night as the Thunder will host No. 15 ranked Wisconsin Lutheran University. Saturday's home opener tips off at 7:30 p.m. in King Arena.