Wheaton, Ill. -- After sailing past The College of St. Scholastica in Friday's semifinal matchup, the Wheaton men's basketball team returned to King Arena on Saturday night to compete in the Championship game of the 29th annual Lee Pfund Classic. The Thunder faced off against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which is ranked seventh in the country in this year's D3hoops.com preseason poll. After a competitive and evenly-matched battle, the undefeated Eagles escaped with a 70-66 result to win the weekend tournament. UW-La Crosse owns a 5-0 record on the young season with all of their wins coming away from home, while Wheaton now holds a 4-2 mark on the year. Upon the conclusion of tonight's game, junior guard
Soren Richardson and freshman guard
Carson Grier were named to the All-Tournament team for their performances over the last two days.
Saturday's contest was the first-ever meeting between the Thunder and the Eagles in men's basketball, and the hosts started the showpiece fixture in impressive fashion, quickly establishing an 8-0 lead in front of a sizable and loud home crowd. Freshman
Brady Wynja tallied the first basket of the night with a layup in the lane before consecutive three-pointers by Wheaton's All-Tournament honorees forced an early timeout for the visitors. La Crosse used this pause in the Thunder's momentum to its advantage, promptly mounting a 15-3 run of its own to take the lead for the first time seven minutes into the game. Neither side was able to establish a consistent rhythm on the offensive end, and energetic defensive work from both squads resulted in a low-scoring and back-and-forth opening half.
Layups from Wynja and Grier knotted the scoreline up at 17-17 with nine minutes remaining in the period before the Eagles pulled back in front via a well-timed three and back-to-back jumpers from their Tournament MVP. Another triple just past the four-minute mark extended UWL's advantage to eight points, but Wheaton halved this deficit from the free throw line. The Wisconsin outfit led by seven points with two minutes to play, but a shot from beyond the arc by
Reid Olson after consecutive steals and a tough paint layup by
Kyan VanderWoude gave the Thunder some juice heading into the intermission. La Crosse added one more point from the charity stripe on the final possession of the first frame to log a 34-29 halftime edge.
Richardson buried a jump shot on Wheaton's first trip down the floor at the start of the second half, and VanderWoude drilled a three in the next series to keep the Thunder within touching distance. But UW-La Crosse's Sam Grieger went to work in the lane and notched five-straight points to prevent the hosts from flipping the scoreline. The visitors held a narrow 41-37 edge three and a half minutes into the period before reeling off a 7-0 surge to push their lead to double-digits at the 15:00 mark. But a pull-up from VanderWoude and another three by Olson brought Wheaton back into the picture at 48-42, and this set the tone for the second half, as La Crosse would do just enough to keep its lead without being able to pull away from a spirited Thunder team. The WIAC side converted in the paint once again to make it 57-46 with less than ten to play, and it appeared as though the top-ten team would finally be able to create permanent separation from the underdogs. But consecutive baskets from Richardson and Grier (
pictured right) either side of a La Crosse layup and a late rally in the final two minutes of the contest were nearly enough to see Wheaton pick up a noteworthy comeback win.
The Eagles held an eight-point lead with 1:40 remaining on the clock, but Grier found space in the paint to lay the ball home and capitalized on a missed three-pointer on the ensuing possession by finding Richardson with a quality assist for an and-one triple of his own to drag the Thunder back within three heading into the last minute of play. Richardson knocked down his subsequent foul shot to complete the impressive four-point play and set the score at 65-63 with the King Arena crowd at its noisiest peak. La Crosse responded to this pressure in experienced fashion by logging an and-one basket of its own on the following exchange to go back up by five with 40 seconds remaining.
But Wheaton refused to go away, and another big three-ball from Olson seven seconds later made it a two-point game once again at 68-66. The Thunder got the stop they wanted on La Crosse's next possession as the visitors missed their one-and-one foul shot, but a clutch steal by the Eagles saw Grieger return to the free throw line.This time he buried both attempts to push his team into a 70-66 edge. Wheaton had ten seconds to make up this four-point difference, but its final shot came up short, and La Crosse grabbed the rebound to seal a fifth-consecutive win after a high-quality and entertaining matchup.
Both teams shot the ball more efficiently in the second half, as Wheaton lifted its 37% first-half total to a 45.45% figure after the break and ended the game with a 42% measure on 25-60 shooting. UW-La Crosse improved from a 43% tally before halftime to a 52% measure in the next period to finish with a 47% figure on the night. The Thunder smothered the Eagles at the three-point line, allowing just four conversions from 20 attempts while dropping in nine triples of their own for a 37.5% total. But the visitors held the advantage at the free throw line, attempting and making twice as many foul shots as the home side. La Crosse played a clean game on Saturday, turning the ball over just eight times and enjoying a 21-7 disparity in points off of turnovers. Wheaton out-rebounded its northern opponent at a 39-31 count, however, and found more production from its bench and from second chance points. UWL grabbed ten steals to the Thunder's four, blocked five shots, and posted a decisive 38 points in the paint while giving up 26 at the other end.
Richardson led the home side with 19 points and three takeaways and was matched on three triples by Olson, who contributed 13 points and two assists. VanderWoude also went for 13 points while bringing down seven rebounds and shooting 60% from the floor. Grier was the fourth Wheaton player to hit double-figures on the night, going for 11 points, six boards, and three assists while making all five of his shot attempts. Wynja hauled in a team-high ten rebounds, including four offensive boards, and
Devin Martin earned a team-leading four dimes. La Crosse's Grieger tallied an impressive 30 points, six assists, and two steals while making 12 shots on Saturday to earn top honors as the weekend's best player.
After three-consecutive home games, the Thunder squad will head back out on the road for its next test. Wheaton travels to Manchester University on Tuesday night for its last game before the start of CCIW play in ten days' time. Tip-off between the Thunder and the Spartans is scheduled for 7:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM Central in Indiana.
2025 LEE PFUND CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
Sam Grieger, UW-La Crosse (
Will Landry Memorial Tournament MVP)
JJ Paider, UW-La Crosse
Carson Grier, Wheaton
Soren Richardson, Wheaton
Jack Murphy, Rose-Hulman
Davion Butler, St. Scholastica
