Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton men's basketball team traveled to Carthage College (16-8, 10-5 CCIW) on Wednesday night for its final road contest of the 2023-24 regular season schedule. The Firebirds used a strong second-half performance to earn a 79-68 victory against the Thunder (6-18, 5-10 CCIW).
Wheaton closes out the regular season on Saturday night with a key matchup at home against North Park. If Wheaton can defeat the Vikings in King Arena on Saturday, the Thunder will earn the No. 6 seed in the upcoming CCIW Men's Basketball Tournament. If Wheaton picks up the win against NPU on Saturday, the Thunder move to 6-10 in conference play and would be in a tie for sixth place with either Augustana (6-9 CCIW) or Carroll (6-9 CCIW). The Vikings and Pioneers play each other on Saturday, with the winning team earning a spot in the six-team CCIW Tournament. The squad that loses the Augustana-Carroll game will move into a tie with the Thunder, if Wheaton defeats NPU on Saturday. In the event of a tie between Wheaton and either Augustana or Carroll the Thunder win the tiebreaker and will earn the No. 6 seed in the tournament and compete next Tuesday in a CCIW Tournament Quarterfinal at No. 3 seed Carthage.
Nick Schiavello led Wheaton in tonight's matchup at Carthage, tying for the game-high with 22 points. The senior added six rebounds, and five assists.
Soren Richardson scored 21 points, with three steals. Richardson and Schiavello each made three three-pointers.
Connor Braun scored eight points for the guests, while
Noah Hedrick and
Nate Sock each scored six points.
The Thunder shot 38.8% (26-of-67) from the field tonight, including 37.1% (13-for-35) from three-point range. Carthage posted a 58.8% (30-of-51) field goal percentage, including 41.7% (5-for-12) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 42.9% (3-for-7) at the free throw line, and the Firebirds had a 73.7% (14-of-19) effort at the stripe. Carthage out-rebounded the Thunder 43-25, with each team collecting seven offensive boards.
Wheaton turned the ball over just four times tonight, with 11 miscues for Carthage. This effort helped Wheaton out-score the hosts 13-4 in points off turnovers.
Tonight's matchup was tied 10-10 with 12:10 remaining in the first half when the hosts put together a 12-5 scoring run to take a 22-15 lead with 8:30 left before halftime. Carthage's largest lead of the first half was a 10-point bulge at 30-20 with 4:38 remaining in the half when Schiavello made a three-pointer. Schiavello's trey sparked a 14-2 Thunder run to close out the first half. Schiavello scored nine of his team's 14 points in the impressive run. The Thunder led at halftime, 34-32.
Schiavello led all players with 14 first-half points. Richardson scored seven points in the first half. Carthage's Filip Bulatovic led the hosts with 10 points in the first half, adding eight rebounds.
Braun made a three-pointer with 7:57 left in the second half to give Wheaton a 56-55 lead. The advantage was Wheaton's final lead of the game as Carthage responded on its next possession with a basket by Julian Campbell to give the hosts a 57-56 lead with 7:30 left in the contest. Campbell's basket started a 10-0 run for the Firebirds for a 65-56 Carthage lead.
Noah Hedrick scored a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back Thunder possessions as Wheaton cut the Carthage lead to five points at 67-62 with 3:40 remaining. That was as close as the Thunder could get in the final minutes of the game as Cartage out-scored Wheaton 13-6 to close out the contest with the Firebirds earning the 79-68 victory.
Campbell led the Firebirds with 22 points tonight, adding nine rebounds. Ryan Johnson contributed 19 points with 14 rebounds. Bulatovic tallied 11 points.
