Decatur, Ill. – The 12^th-ranked Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team withstood a strong effort from the host Millikin Big Blue (8-7, 1-5 CCIW) on Saturday afternoon in a conference matchup at the Griswold Centers. The Thunder (12-2, 4-1 CCIW) rallied for a 13-point second half deficit to top the Big Blue 65-61. The Thunder out-scored Millikin 23-11 in the final 8:10 of the second half to earn the key road win.
 
Tyson Cruickshank led all players with 24 points today, on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. The Thunder graduate student led the guests with four assists and three steals. TJ Askew scored 15 points, with four rebounds and two blocked shots, including a critical block in the final minute of the game to secure the Thunder win. Andrew Williams scored eight points with five rebounds. Eli Considine tied for the game's rebound lead with eight boards today and he tied for the team assist lead with four.

The Thunder shot 48.9% (23-of-47) from the field, including 45.5% (10-for-22) behind the three-point arc. Millikin recorded a 47.3% (26-for-55) field goal percentage, including 30% (3-for-10) from three-point range. The Thunder had a 69.2% (9-for-13) effort at the free throw line and Millikin shot 75% (6-for-8) at the charity stripe.
The Big Blue outrebounded the Thunder 29-25, including a 5-1 edge on the offensive glass. Wheaton impressed in the transition game outscoring the Big Blue 16-0 on fast break points.
 
The Thunder led early in the game, jumping out to a 16-10 lead with 13:30 remaining in the first half. Millikin responded with an 8-2 run to tie the game at 18-18 with 11:15 left before the halftime intermission. Wheaton led by two points at 29-27 with 5:05 remaining in the first half when Millikin's Drake Stevenson dunked the ball to tie the game at 29-29. Stevenson's dunk started a 10-2 Big Blue run to close out the first half as the hosts led 37-31 at halftime.
Askew scored 10 first-half points to lead Wheaton, with eight points for Cruickshank in the first 20 minutes. Cole Laurence led Millikin led with 10 first-half points.

Millikin out-scored the Thunder 9-2 in the first 7:30 of the second half to boost the hosts' lead to a game-high 13 points at 46-33 with 12:25 remaining in regulation. Eddie Scott drained a three-pointer on Wheaton's next possession, the start of three-straight Thunder three-pointers, to spark a 22-6 Thunder run over a span of 10:36 to give Wheaton a six-point lead at 58-52 with 1:51 remaining in regulation. Scott's trifecta was followed by three-pointers for Askew and Cruickshank to give Wheaton nine unanswered points to start the 22-6 run. Cruickshank scored 12 of Wheaton's 22 points in the run. He added three assists, two steals and a rebound in the impressive stretch.

Millikin's Noah Livingston made a three-pointer with 1:42 remaining to trim Wheaton's lead to 58-55. Wheaton turned the ball over on the next possession and Stevenson made a layup with cut Wheaton's lead to 58-57 with 1:00 remaining in the second half. Wheaton patiently moved the ball on its next possession and a cutting Cruickshank collected the ball and drove to the hoop for a layup that increased Wheaton's lead to 60-57 with 32-seconds left. Demarcus Bond scored for the hosts on Millikin's next possession to cut Wheaton's advantage to one point at 60-59 with less than 20-seconds remaining. Millikin immediately fouled Considine on Wheaton's next possession to send him to the line. Considine made both free throws to give Wheaton a 62-59 advantage.  

Millikin took its next possession to the other end of the court and attempted a three-pointer that was blocked by Askew who then collected the rebound and was fouled. Askew made both free throws to give Wheaton a five-point edge at 64-59. Millikin missed a layup attempt on its next possession and the rebound was collected by Nick Schiavello with less than one second remaining on the clock. Schiavello made his first free throw. His second attempt was missed and bounced of the rim back to him as time expired and Wheaton emerged with the 65-61 victory.

Wheaton remains on the road in conference play next Wednesday night with a matchup at North Central. The DuPage County matchup tips off at 7:00 p.m. in Gregory Arena.