Wheaton, Ill. – Returning to action after a three-week layoff around the holidays, the Wheaton men's basketball team welcomed ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University to King Arena on Saturday night. Wheaton's upset bid came up just short against tonight's strong opponents as the Thunder fell to the Titans, 85-80, in overtime.
 
Illinois Wesleyan (11-2, 3-1 CCIW) rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes of regulation to force overtime. Trailing 67-58, the Titans rattled off eight straight points to pull to within one. A pair of Devin Martin free throws gave Wheaton (3-9, 0-3 CCIW) a three-point cushion with 19 seconds left, but Illinois Wesleyan's Nick Roper connected on a game-tying three-pointer with eight seconds remaining to send the game to overtime even at 69 all.
 
The Titans scored the first seven points of the extra period and held off a late surge from Wheaton to pull away for the 85-80 victory.
 
The Titans built a 35-32 lead in a tightly-contested first half that featured seven ties and six lead changes. IWU owned a seven-point cushion (45-38) four minutes into the second half, but Wheaton outscored Illinois Wesleyan 29-13 over the next 12 minutes to give the Thunder a nine-point lead before the Titans mounted their rally.
 
Wheaton finished the game shooting 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the floor, including 38.5 percent (15-of-39) from beyond the arc. IWU shot 37.7 percent (26-of-69) from the field but only 24.2 percent (8-of-33) from three-point distance. The Titans shot 86.2 percent (25-of-29) from the foul line. Illinois Wesleyan won the battle on the glass, outrebounding the Thunder 49-33.
 
All five Wheaton starters reached double-figures in scoring tonight. Soren Richardson (pictured right) led the way in the loss, scoring a team-leading 22 points while also adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals.  Richardson knocked down four three-pointers, and he was joined on this mark by Ty Ferguson. Noah Hedrick and Martin added 15 points apiece for the Thunder. Martin collected six rebounds and dished out a game-high eight assists while shooting 50% from the floor, and Hedrick added a team-high seven rebounds to go with four assists. Richardson and Martin converted all ten of their combined free throw attempts tonight. Kyle Neibch added 10 points for the Thunder.
 
Roper led the Titans in the victory, posting a double-double of 26 points and 10 rebounds. Roper shot 7-of-17 from the floor and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Hakim Williams tallied 17 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Titans. Harrison Wilmsen and Josh Fridman scored nine points apiece for Illinois Wesleyan. Marko Anderson came off the bench to collect a team-leading nine rebounds.
 
Wheaton kicks off a two-game CCIW road trip on Wednesday, January 8, when they travel to Naperville to face North Central College at 7:00 p.m.