Elmhurst, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team traveled to R.A. Faganel Hall in Elmhurst on Saturday to face the 21st ranked Bluejays. Elmhurst topped the Thunder 72-60 in the conference matchup.

Nick Schiavello led the Thunder with 23 points, making five three-pointers. Schiavello also distributed five assists with two steals. Noah Hedrick and Nate Sock each scored nine points for the guests. Sock grabbed a team-high six rebounds and tied Schiavello for the game's assist lead with five. Connor Braun scored seven points and Soren Richardson also tallied seven points.

Wheaton posted a 42.3% (22-of-52) field goal percentage, including 43.5% (10-of-23) three-point percentage. Elmhurst shot 40% (24-for-60) from the field, including 35.3% (6-of-17) from three-point range. Elmhurst shot 85.7% (18-of-21) at the free throw line and Wheaton had a 42.9% (6-of-14) effort at the charity stripe. The Bluejays out-rebounded the Thunder 44-27, including a 10-1 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Bluejays never trailed in today's contest. The hosts took a 9-4 lead in the first four-and-a-half minutes.  Elmhurst's largest lead of the first half was a 15-point advantage with two minutes remaining in the half when Sock made a basket that was the start of eight-consecutive points for the Thunder as Wheaton trimmed the Bluejays' lead to seven points at 32-25. The other baskets in Wheaton's 8-0 run were three-pointers by Kyle Neibch and a trifecta by Schiavello with 53-seconds remaining before halftime. Elmhurst added a layup in the final minute as the hosts led Wheaton by nine points at halftime with a 34-25 advantage for the Bluejays.

Schiavello led the Thunder with 11 points in the first half, making three of his five three-pointers for the game in the opening half. Jonathan Zapinski scored 10 points to lead Elmhurst's first-half scoring and he added six rebounds.

The Bluejays had an 11-point advantage at 41-30 with 15:05 remaining in the second half when Wheaton put together a 5-0 run, that was highlighted by a four-point play for Hedrick that cut the EU lead to 41-35 with 14:26 left in the game. The hosts responded by building their lead up to 13 points and 52-39 with 9:50 remaining. An eight-point deficit was the closest Wheaton could get to the Bluejays in the remainder of the contest.

Schiavello led all players with 12 points in the second half. Schiavello made a pair of three-pointers in the second half and distributed three assists. Hedrick scored nine points off the Thunder bench as he shot 3-for-5 from the field, including a 2-for-3 effort behind the three-point arc. Sock tallied seven second-half points, with three assists. John Ittounas and Tagen Pearson each scored eight points to lead Elmhurst's second-half scoring.

Zapinski led Elmhurst with 16 points tonight, grabbing eight rebounds. Pearson tallied 12 points, while Matt Woloch scored eight points off of the Bluejays' bench. Zapinski and Ocean Johnson each grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to lead Elmhurst's rebounding effort.

Wheaton remains on the road for its next conference matchup. The Thunder travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Wednesday night for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff against the Firebirds. 

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