Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team hosted University of Chicago on Wednesday night in the final non-conference game of the 2024-25 season. The Maroons (6-2) emerged with an 87-63 victory against the Thunder in tonight's contest. Wheaton (3-6) opens conference play on Saturday afternoon at Elmhurst (3-4, 0-1 CCIW) in 4:15 p.m. tipoff.
Sophomore guard
Soren Richardson led the Thunder with 20 points, and he added two steals. Senior guard
Noah Hedrick tallied 13 points, with two steals. Freshman
Devin Martin contributed seven points for the hosts.
Kyle Neibch was Wheaton's rebounding leader with five caroms. Martin, Richardson, Hedrick,
Christian Veirs, and
Kyan VanderWoude each collected four boards.
Wheaton shot 37.9% (22-of-56) from the field, including 16% (4-for-25) behind the three-point arc. The Maroons posted a 57.4% (36-of-61) field goal percentage, with a 36.4% (8-of-22) effort from three-point range. The Thunder shot 68.2% (15-of-22) at the free throw line and UChicago had a 69.2% (9-of-13) effort at the charity stripe.
Noah Pit and Joe Berry each scored 16 points to lead the Maroons. Daniel Cochran scored 14 points and Thomas Kurowski added 13 for the guests. Cochran and Pit each grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for UChicago. Eamonn Kenah and Phillip Lawrence each had five assists to lead all players.
The Maroons jumped out to an early 12-7 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Wheaton closed its deficit to just one point as UChicago led 12-11 with 14:45 remaining in the first half. UChicago had a three-point lead at 19-16 with 11:25 left in the first half when the guests put together a 16-4 run that gave the Maroons a 35-20 lead with 5:00 remaining before halftime. UChicago led 44-35 at the halftime intermission.
Richardson led all players in first-half by scoring 13 points, and Martin added seven points. Cochran led UChicago's first-half effort with 10 points.
Richardson made a three-pointer to open the second half, cutting the Maroons' lead to six points at 44-38. That was the closest the Thunder could get in the second half as UChicago earned the 87-63 victory. Hedrick led all players with 13 points in the second half. Pit and Berry each scored 10 points to lead UChicago's effort in the second half.
