Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team edged Illinois Wesleyan 80-79 on Saturday night in King Arena. The back-and-forth game concluded with Nyameye Adom's 37-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to win the game in regulation. The Thunder earn a season sweep against Illinois Wesleyan as Wheaton improves to 14-9 overall and 8-6 in conference action. Illinois Wesleyan falls to 15-8 overall and 9-5 in CCIW play.
Adom led all scorers with a career-high 30 points tonight on 10-of-18 shooting from the field. Adom tied his career-high with three three-pointers and distributed six assists. Tyson Cruickshank scored 20 points with five assists. Cade Alioth tallied 14 points with 11 rebounds for a "double-double". Anajuwon Spencer scored nine points with six rebounds and four blocked shots. Gavin Hawkins added seven rebounds for the hosts.
The first half tonight was tightly contested with five lead changes and the game was tied on six occasions in the opening 20 minutes. The largest lead for either team in the first half was a six-point bulge for Wheaton as the hosts led 15-9 with 14:25 remaining in the first half. The Thunder led by two at halftime with a 35-33 Wheaton lead at the intermission.
The opening eight minutes of the second half remained closely contested. The Thunder held a two-point lead at 52-50 when Cruickshank made a layup with 12:06 remaining in regulation. The sophomore's basket sparked an 11-4 Thunder run that extended Wheaton's lead to nine points at 63-54 with 9:13 remaining in the game. The Titans responded with 11-consecutive points over a span of 3:16 as the guests took a 65-63 lead with 5:57 left in the game. In the final 5:57 of the game the contest was tied three times, however, Wheaton never led in that span until Adom's three-pointer as time expired.
The contest was tied 73-73 with 1:46 remaining when Illinois Wesleyan's Alex O'Neill made a layup to give the guests a 75-73 lead. Wheaton missed a shot on its next possession, but Alioth was there to grab the rebound and get the put-back basket to tie the game at 75-75 with 53-seconds left. Charlie Bair of IWU made a pair of free throws with 37-seconds left in the game as IWU took a 77-75 lead.
The Thunder missed a shot attempt on the hosts' next possession and Bair collected the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throw attempts with 22-seconds left in the game to increase the IWU lead to 78-75. Cruickshank collected the rebound on a missed Thunder three-point attempt on Wheaton's next possession and he was fouled following the carom. The sophomore made both free throws to cut the Titans lead to 78-77 with 12-seconds remaining in the game.
The Titans had two more possessions that results in free throw attempts, however, the guests were 1-of-4 at the line in the final 10 seconds. Bernie Corderre of IWU made the IWU free throw with 3.6-seconds remaining in the game to setup Wheaton's final attempt for a game-winner. Gavin Hawkins in-bounded the ball for Wheaton and he passed to Adom just short of the midcourt line. Adom brought the ball up and calmly shot the ball straight-on in front of the basket from 37-feet out. The ball banked off the glass and into the basket as the clock hit 00.0 for the dramatic victory.
Wheaton shot 49.2% (30-of-61) from the field, including 38.5 %(10-for-26) behind the three-point arc. The Titans posted a 48.3% (28-of-58) field goal percentage, including 29.4% (5-of-17) from three-point range. The Thunder shot 62.5% (10-of-16) at the free throw line and Illinois Wesleyan had a 62.1% (18-of-29) effort at the stripe. The Titans out-rebounded the Thunder 36-34, including a 10-7 edge on the offensive glass.
Charlie Bair led Illinois Wesleyan with 26 points and he added seven rebounds. Doug Wallen scored 14 points. Keondre Schumacher, Peter Lembesis and Matthew Leritz each scored nine points for the guests. Leritz grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and Lembesis had five assists for the Titans.
Wheaton hosts Millikin on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. in King Arena.