Rock Island, Ill. -- After a week away from the court over Thanksgiving break, the Wheaton men's basketball team returned to play tonight by traveling to western Illinois to face Augustana College in the first conference game of the year for both squads. The hosting Vikings put in an impressive first-half display this evening and withstood a fierce Wheaton rally to eventually secure a hard-fought 84-81 result. Wheaton's record is now 5-3 on the season, while Augie owns a 4-3 mark thanks to a key CCIW win. The Thunder will next be in action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome local rivals Elmhurst University to King Arena for a 4:15 PM matchup.
The Vikings raced out to a ten-point lead on Wednesday night, as the visitors were held scoreless on their first six trips down the floor and the home side established an early edge in the paint. Two buckets from
Carson Grier put the Thunder on the board, and a layup by tonight's leading scorer,
Soren Richardson, generated some offensive confidence for Wheaton. But Augustana continued to find its way to the basket and saw its advantage balloon up to 18 points halfway through the first period. Back-to-back triples from the newest member of Wheaton's 1,000-point club ended the team's long dry spell, and the Thunder outscored Augie, 27-17, over the last ten minutes of the half. The hosts held a 38-25 edge with 5:30 remaining thanks to a pair of well-timed three-pointers and plenty of trips to the foul line, but consecutive three-point plays from
Kyle Neibch and another layup in the lane by Richardson brought Wheaton back within ten at 40-30. After two and a half minutes of scoreless basketball, the Thunder cut the deficit back down to single digits with another paint layup. Augustana notched one of its own with 60 seconds left in the half to go back up by ten, but Grier had the final say of the first frame with a successful attempt to set the intermission score at 44-36 in the hosts' favor.
Wheaton scored 45 points in the second half of Wednesday's contest, including 13 made free throws compared to only one foul shot attempt in the opening frame. But its impressive comeback effort came up agonizingly short as Augustana did just enough to hold on for the win. The Thunder drew within six points of their hosts three minutes into the second period, but Augie mounted a 5-0 spurt to pull back out in front at 54-43 shortly thereafter. A three-ball by
Reid Olson (
pictured left) steadied the
ship, and two free throws from Neibch along with another Olson triple dragged Wheaton within five at 56-51 with 12:40 to play. The Vikings continued their strong interior play in the following exchanges and built their lead back up to nine points heading into the last ten minutes. But a lane layup on the guests' next possession kicked off a pivotal 9-0 run by the Thunder that fully erased Augie's comfortable lead and quieted the Carver Center crowd. Facing an 18-point disadvantage 22 minutes earlier, Wheaton was now tied at 64-64 with eight still left to play.
Olson's fourth triple of the half at the 5:30 mark got his team back within one point following consecutive Augustana baskets, but a Vikings tip-in and four-straight free throws pushed the home side back ahead by six points with four minutes on the clock. The rookie Olson continued his lights-out shooting run with another three-pointer, and a tough driving layup by Richardson set the score at 75-74 with three minutes remaining. Consecutive jump shots from the same Viking kept Augie narrowly in front, but the preseason All-American Richardson proceeded to take over the game, scoring on four-straight possessions to hand Wheaton its first lead of the night at 80-79 with one minute left on the board. The hosts missed their subsequent shot attempt, but an offensive rebound and a foul bailed them out, and the Augie player held his nerve from the charity stripe to nudge the Vikings back in front by a single point. Wheaton attempted a three on its following trip, but this shot was off the mark, and Augustana again knocked down two foul shots to make it 83-80 heading into the last 20 seconds.
The Vikings then chose to foul the Thunder instead of giving up a look at a potential game-tying shot, and one of the two ensuing free throws went in. The hosts pounced on the unsuccessful attempt, and despite missing both of their following foul shots, brought down a key offensive rebound to earn another trip to the line. The first free throw found the net, but the second one missed the mark and was collected by the Thunder, giving Wheaton a final chance to tie the game and send the contest into overtime. The subsequent three-pointer was unsuccessful, but the ball bounced out of bounds off of a Viking hand with two seconds left to play. Wheaton's next in-bounds pass was fumbled away, however, and Augustana managed to escape with a nervy victory.
The Vikings enjoyed a strong shooting night, putting up a +50% mark in both halves and finishing with a 54% total. The hosts only attempted six three-pointers on Wednesday and converted four of these shots, but Augie made its advantage from the free-throw line count, notching 26 points from the stripe on 33 tries compared to Wheaton's 14 made free throws on just 21 attempts. The Thunder let it fly from beyond the arc this evening, sinking 11 out of 25 three-point shots, and also finished over 50% from the field. Augustana also registered a strong outing on the glass, outrebounding Wheaton by a 32-18 margin, including grabbing ten offensive boards. The Thunder won the turnover battle tonight and nicked 11 steals compared to the hosts' eight. The Vikings tallied more points in the paint, second chance opportunities, and fast break scoring, while the visitors earned advantages in points off of turnovers and bench production.
Richardson, fresh off of surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his career, led all scorers on Wednesday with 29 on 11-17 shooting. The junior also collected a game-high four steals. Olson played 35 minutes off the bench and scored 17 points with five made three-pointers while also leading all players with five assists. Neibch contributed 14 points off the bench on 50% shooting and made all three of his foul shots. Grier finished with nine points on a 4-7 mark, three takeaways, and a team-best six rebounds.
Wheaton returns home for another big conference contest this weekend, as the squad faces the Elmhurst Bluejays in King Arena.
Saturday's game is set to begin at 4:15 PM following the conclusion of the Wheaton-Elmhurst women's game at 2 PM (*please note the different start time from past seasons).
