Lake Forest, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team, ranked sixth in Division III by D3hoops.com, defeated Lake Forest College 95-70 on Tuesday night in its first road contest of the 2021-22 season. Wheaton improves to 2-0 on the young season, while Lake Forest falls to 0-5.
Senior froward Cade Alioth tallied a "double-double" in points and rebounds against he Foresters. He scored 26 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field, and was 8-of-9 at the free throw line. Alioth collected 12 rebounds, including six offensive boards. He also added five assists and two steals in a well-rounded effort.
Nyameye Adom scored 23 points, with five assists. Adom shot 10-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Eddie Scott scored a career-high 11 points off the Thunder bench, adding two steals. Collin Uveges scored 10 points, making a pair of three-pointers and he distributed three assists. Eli Considine scored eight points, with four rebounds and two assists. Tyson Cruickshank scored seven points with three assists.
Wheaton was impressive shooting for a 59.4% (38-of-64) field goal percentage tonight, including 42.1% (8-of-19) from three-point range. Lake Forest shot 47.8% (32-of-67) from the field, including a 25% (4-of-16) effort behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 73.3% (11-of-15) at the free throw line and Lake Forest shot 100% (2-for-2) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Foresters 32-31, with a 9-7 edge on the offensive glass for the Foresters. Wheaton out-scored the hosts 23-6 off of LFC's 13 turnovers. Wheaton's inside game was particularly strong tonight out-scoring Lake Forest 56-42 in the paint.
Sean Espinosa led the Foresters with 26 points and five assists. Val Oplchenski scored 12 points, and Johnny Roeser scored 11 points with six rebounds.
The first five-plus minutes of the contest were tightly contested, with an 11-11 tie at the 14:52 mark of the first half. Adom drained a three-pointer with 14:38 remaining in the opening half to spark an 11-0 run for the Thunder. Adom tallied two trifectas in the key 11-0 run, as Wheaton never trailed or saw the game tied after the senior's first three-pointer. The Thunder led by 13 points at halftime with a 45-32 lead for the guests. Adom led all players at halftime with 14 first-half points. Alioth tallied 12 points with six rebounds in the opening half.
Wheaton opened up its offense in the second half, leading by as many points as 26 with an 86-60 lead at the 6:40 mark of the second half. Alioth scored 14 points with six rebounds in the second half. Alioth shot 5-of-6 in the second half.
Wheaton hosts the Lee Pfund Classic this weekend. The opening game for the Thunder is a matchup with Ohio Wesleyan on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.