Mequon, Wis. – The Wheaton men's basketball team made its 2025-26 debut on Saturday night. The Thunder opened the promising campaign with a thrilling 99-95 victory at Concordia University (Wis.). The Thunder open the season 1-0, while the Falcons are 0-1.
Concordia led for the more than one half of the first half tonight. Wheaton had a late run in the opening half that allowed the hosts to lead at halftime. Concordia scored the first four points of the game and jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first two and a half minutes. Wheaton responded with six unanswered points to cut the hosts' lead to 9-8 just four minutes in, but CUW continued to lead until Wheaton tied the game at 17-17 with 12:25 left in the opening half.
Concordia countered with a 10-2 run as the hosts had an eight-point advantage at 29-21 with 9:10 left before halftime. The Falcons led 29-21 when
Reid Olson drained a three-pointer that sparked a 14-4 Thunder run as Wheaton gained its first lead at 35-33 with 5:30 left in the first half. Olson and
Soren Richardson combined to score 12 of Wheaton's 14 points in the key scoring run as Olson made a pair of three-point shots in the run.
The Thunder never relinquished the lead in the first half once
Kyan VanderWoude made a jumper with 5:54 left in the half to give Wheaton a 35-33 lead. Wheaton's strong offense continued for much of the final five minutes of the first half as Wheaton took a pair of eight-point leads in that span. The Thunder held a 47-44 lead at halftime.
The Wheaton offense came out strong to open the second half as
Devin Martin and
Kyle Neibch made three-pointers
Carson Grier added a layup as the Thunder led 52-44 just one minute into the second half.
The Thunder led 86-79 with 5:05 left in the game when Concordia's Logan Landers made a pair of free throws that started a 12-3 run for the Falcons that gave the hosts a 91-89 lead with 1:29 remaining in regulation. Following a Wheaton timeout after the hosts had their first lead of the second half, Wheaton's clutch senior
Kyle Neibch made a three-pointer to give the guests a 92-91 lead with 59-seconds remaining. Concordia's Javanni Blackman responded with a layup as the hosts regained the lead with a one-point edge at 93-92 with 37-seconds left in the contest.
Neibch (PICTURED LEFT), a captain for the Thunder, again came up with the big shot as he drained another three-pointer that gave Wheaton a 95-93 lead with 28 seconds left. Concordia's Casey Verhagen responded with a layup to tie the game at 95-95 with 22 seconds remaining. VanderWoude gave Wheaton the lead with a layup to give Wheaton a 97-95 edge with 5.9-seconds left. Concordia's long in-bounds pass bounced off the hands of two Falcons' players and went out of bounds to give Wheaton possession. Concordia fouled Christian Viers who calmly made two free throws as Wheaton secured the 99-95 victory.
VanderWoude led the Thunder with a career-high 26 points tonight as he shots 12-for-22 from the field. He also dished out four assists with five rebounds. Richardson and Neibch each collected 18 points for the guests. Neibch made a game-high five three-pointers in his outstanding night and Richardson had four assists. Martin scored 12 points with two assists as the sophomore was 4-for-7 from the field. Olson and Grier each scored nine points in their respective collegiate debuts. Grier shot 4-for-5 from the field tonight. The combined 27 points by Neibch and Olson tonight allowed Wheaton's bench to out-score the Falcons' bench 29-15 tonight.
Wheaton's efficient offense shot 55.4% (36-for-65 ) from the field tonight, including 47.8% (11-for-23) from three-point range. Concordia shot a 57.1% (32-for-56) field goal percentage, including 36.4% (4-for-11) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder out-rebounded the hosts 29-27 tonight, including a 9-4 edge on the offensive glass.
Wheaton hosts Lake Forest College (0-1) on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.
