Bloomington, Ill. -- The Wheaton men's basketball team traveled to central Illinois this evening for its latest conference road test, taking on the Illinois Wesleyan Titans for the second time in the past three weeks. The hosting Titans, ranked 16th in the country in this week's D3hoops.com poll, saw off the visitors by a score of 82-71 to claim their regular season series against the Thunder for a third-straight time. With Wednesday's result, Wheaton's season record drops to 12-8 and 6-5 in conference competition, while CCIW co-leader IWU improves to 17-4 with a 9-3 record in league play.
The Thunder improved considerably on the offensive end from their first matchup against the league's best defensive team, shooting 44.4% from the floor and 35% from three-point range tonight while tallying 14 assists. But the Titans also stepped up their offensive production compared to this season's meeting in Wheaton, posting tallies of 53% from both the field and three-point land, specifically, on Wednesday. Distance shooting proved to be the single biggest point of difference between the sides this evening, as IWU knocked down an impressive 17 three-point tries while limiting Wheaton to eight at the other end. Both sides attempted ten foul shots for the game, with the Thunder making seven and the Titans struggling on a 3-10 mark.
The Orange and Blue also avoided the turnover bug that bit them in the last contest against IWU, giving the ball away just seven times tonight while forcing 13 turnovers from the Titans. Illinois Wesleyan won the rebounding battle, 38-30, while Wheaton enjoyed notable advantages in paint scoring and points off of turnovers this evening.
Soren Richardson led the Thunder with 20 points on 50% shooting to go with a 4-4 showing at the free throw line. The junior collected three assists and two steals, as well.
Carson Grier tallied 15 points, including three three-pointers, and joined Richardson on two takeaways, while
Brady Wynja contributed 13 points and four rebounds on a 60% shooting effort.
Kyan VanderWoude was Wheaton's fourth double-digit scorer on Wednesday, going for ten points and a team-high eight boards.
Reid Olson registered nine points, four rebounds, and a joint team-best four assists this evening.
Illinois Wesleyan never trailed in tonight's game. The hosts scored the first eight points of the contest, before a triple from Wynja (
pictured left) got Wheaton on the board. After the Titans restored their eight-point cushion
at the 16:00 mark of the first half, consecutive buckets in the lane halved the Thunder's deficit. The visitors managed to stay within single digits of their nationally ranked rivals until back-to-back threes extended IWU's edge to 15 points with nine minutes left in the period.
But Wheaton responded with a 7-0 surge of its own, capped by a three-ball from Grier. After two more shots from downtown pushed the home side's advantage back up to 34-20, the Thunder rattled off a furious ten-point rally led by the red-hot Grier, who splashed in two-straight three-point shots to quiet the Shirk Center crowd.
Two baskets from Richardson saw Wheaton close within two points at 36-34 less than three minutes before the break, and another paint layup from Wynja maintained that margin heading into the final 90 seconds. But the Titans ended the half the same way they began it, with consecutive scores, including a tip-in at the horn, to enter the halftime locker room with a 42-36 edge after an exciting first 20 minutes.
The underdogs came out firing in the opening exchanges of the second half, putting up nine of the first 12 points to level the score at 45 apiece. Baskets from VanderWoude sandwiched an IWU three-pointer, before a layup by Grier and a Richardson three-pointer brought Wheaton all the way back to tie the game. But the Titans scored on their next two possessions and kept the Thunder off the board on their next three trips down the floor to reestablish a measure of control over proceedings. Leading 50-46 five minutes into the half, IWU got a close-range layup from the CCIW Student-Athlete of the Week and the sixth of the night's leading scorer's eight three-pointers to build a nine-point edge, before two foul shots extended this lead to double-figures once again.
A lead of seven points was the smallest edge Illinois Wesleyan would hold from this stage onward, as the Titans' strong three-point shooting, defensive prowess, and rebounding advantage proved just too much for the visitors to overcome despite a spirited effort on the road.
After consecutive games away from home, the Thunder will return to King Arena on Saturday afternoon to host North Central College in a 4:15 PM contest.
