Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team closed out the regular season portion of its schedule on Saturday night by hosting Millikin University (14-11, 6-10 CCIW) in King Arena. The Big Blue topped the Thunder 70-67 in tonight's matchup. Prior to tonight's game Wheaton honored its seniors: Noah Hedrick, Kyle Neibch, Cooper Starks and team manager Jeremiah Cho for their "Senior Night" celebration.

Wheaton (13-12, 7-9 CCIW) secured a CCIW Tournament bid on Wednesday with its home win against Carthage. The No. 5 seed Thunder will travel to No. 4 seed North Park on Tuesday evening for a CCIW Tournament Quarterfinal game against the Vikings at 7:00 p.m.

Wheaton jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game. Wheaton twice led by six points in the opening seven minutes and the three occasions in the game that the hosts led by six represented Wheaton's largest lead of the game. Millikin responded with nine unanswered points to take a 15-12 with 10 minutes left in the first half. For the final 10 minutes of the tightly contested first half, neither team led by more than three points. The contest was tied at 26-26 at the halftime intermission.

Thunder freshman Carson Grier led all players in the first half with 12 points as he shot 4-for-4 from the field. Grier also grabbed four rebounds and collected four steals. Ian Winkler and Lane Thomann led Millikin in the first half with six points apiece.
Wheaton's final six-point lead in the game came with a 41-35 advantage for the Thunder with 14:00 left in the second half. The Big Blue responded with seven unanswered points to take a 42-41 lead with 11:25 left in the game.

Reid Olson made a three-point shot for the Thunder with 5:28 left in the in the game to tie the contest at 55-55. Thomann scored four-consecutive points to give the guests a 59-55 lead. Soren Richardson made a pair of free throws to cut Millikin's lead to 59-57 with 4:24 left in the game. Devin Martin collected a rebound off of a missed Millikin three-pointer on the next Big Blue possession and he assisted on a three-pointer by Reid Olson as the Thunder gained 60-59 lead with 3:47 left in the game. The Thunder used free throws to build up its lead to four points a 63-59 with 2:15 left in the game.

Four-consecutive Millikin free throws tied the game at 63-63 with 1:41 left in the game. Millikin continued its surge with two field goals and another free throw as the guests put together a 9-0 run to take a 68-63 lead with 21 seconds left in the game. Richardson made a three-pointer with 10-seconds left to cut the guests lead to 68-66 with 10-seconds left. Millikin was fouled with eight seconds left and made one of two free throws to gain a 69-66 lead. Each team made a free throw in the final eight seconds to account for the 70-67 final score.

Richardson scored 13 second-half points, blocking two shots. Olson scored 12 points off the Thunder bench in the second half as he shot 4-for-5 from three-point range. Martin had nine points with four assists. Thomann led all players in the second half with 15 points and Chris Ketchum scored 10 points in the second half.

Wheaton shot 34.5% (19-for-55) from the field in the game, including 26.1% (6-for-23) from three-point range. Millikin posted a 47.3% (26-for-55) field goal percentage, including 25% (3-for-12) behind the three-point arc. The Thunder shot 79.3% (23-for-29) at the free throw line and Millikin had a 62.5% (15-for-24) effort at the charity stripe. The Big Blue held a 38-31 rebounding advantage, with each team collecting seven offensive rebounds.

Grier led the Thunder with 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals tonight. Richardson and Martin each scored 13 points and Olson added 12 points. Martin had a team-high five assists for the hosts.

Thomann led all scorers with 21 points. Ketchum and Ian Winkler each contributed 14 points for the Big Blue. Ketchum's seven rebounds led Millikin on the boards.