Fulton, Mo. - The Wheaton College men's basketball team used a strong second half to defeat Westminster College 64-49 on Thursday night. Wheaton, ranked 17th this week by D3hoops.com, improves to 7-1 on the year. Wheaton will conclude its two-game trip to Missouri on Saturday night with an 8 PM tipoff at Washington University-St. Louis.

The host Bluejays jumped out to a 10-6 lead when Wheaton responded with a 13-4 run to give the Thunder a 19-14 lead midway through the first half. Wheaton held a 28-22 lead in the final three minutes when Westminster responded with a 9-1 run to close out the first half as the Bluejays led 31-29 at halftime.

The Thunder tied the game at 35-35 through the first four minutes of the second half. At that point Wheaton out-scored the Bluejays 25-5 to take a 60-40 lead with approximately five minutes left in the game to secure the road win. The Thunder out-scored the Bluejays 35-18 in the second half, en route to the road victory.

Guard #Jeremy Pflederer# led the Thunder with a team-high 15 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Forward #Tim McCrary# scored 13 points, with five rebounds. Sophomore #Tyler Peters# contributed 11 points, with 11 rebounds for the first "double-double" of his career. #Nate Serenius# scored seven points, while #Spencer Schultze# and #Aaron Garriott# each scored six points apiece.

Verdis Lee led Westminster with 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor. Joe James contributed 10 points for the hosts 

Wheaton shot 45.7% (21-46) from the field, paced by a 65% (13-20) field goal percentage in the second half. The Thunder shot 36.4% (4-11) from three-point range with 81.8% (18-22) at the free throw line. The Bluejays posted a 34.6% (18-52) field goal percentage for the game, with 12.5% (1-8) from three-point range and 80% (12-15) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the hosts 32-31 in the game, with the hosts holding a 10-7 edge on the offensive glass.