Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team returned to action on Wednesday night with a CCIW road contest at North Central College. The host Cardinals (10-4, 3-2 CCIW) defeated the Thunder 86-48 in the matchup. Wheaton (3-10, 0-4 CCIW) remains on the road for its next contest, a 4:15 p.m. tipoff on Saturday at Carroll University.
Junior guard
Kyle Neibch led the Thunder in tonight's contest at North Central as he scored a game-high 19 points. All of Neibch's shot attempts tonight came from behind the three-point arc as he shot 6-of-9 from three-point range tonight.
Noah Hedrick added seven points, while
Soren Richardson,
Devin Martin and Kyan Vanderwoude each scored five points for the guests. Martin added six assists to his performance tonight.
The Thunder posted a 38.1% (16-of-42) field goal percentage, including 38.5% (10-for-26) from three-point range in North Central's Gregory Arena. The Cardinals shot 47.5% (29-of-61) from the field, including 41.4% (12-of-29) behind the arc. North Central shot 94.1% (16-for-17) at the free throw line and the Thunder had a 54.5% (6-for-11) effort at the charity stripe.
The Cardinals had 19 more shot attempts than the Thunder this evening, thanks to a strong rebounding advantage for the hosts and an edge in creating turnovers. North Central out-rebounded Wheaton 44-19 tonight, including a 13-0 advantage on the offensive glass. Wheaton had 17 turnovers in the game, including 11 in the first half. North Central had nine turnovers in the contest as the hosts had a 24-8 advantage in points scored off turnovers.
Four North Central players scored in double digits tonight, led by 17 points for Ethan Helwig. James Bulluck scored 15 points off the NCC bench, while Tyler Swierczek and Drew Gaston each scored 14 points for the hosts. Alejandro Diaz distributed six assists, while Tyler Moncrief and Sean Molloy each snagged three steals.
The Cardinals never trailed tonight and held a 36-27 lead at halftime. North Central opened the second half with a 19-0 run as the hosts extended their lead to 55-27 with 14:50 remaining in the second half.
