Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team earned an 86-65 victory at home on Tuesday night against Lake Forest College (1-2). The Thunder improve to 1-1 on the season heading into the 27th annual Lee Pfund Classic this weekend in King Arena. The Thunder will open its annual tournament at 7:00 p.m. on Friday against Piedmont University.
Four Thunder players scored in double digits tonight in the victory, led by RJ Veliz with 22, points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Veliz shot 8-for-12 from the field tonight. Kyle Neibch made six three-pointers in scoring a career-high 20 points. He added six rebounds and two assists. Connor Braun recorded his second "double-double" of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Braun added two assists and two blocked shots. Soren Richardson scored 12 points, with two assists. Steven Schultz and Stone Sinek each tallied six points.
Wheaton shot 52.4% (33-of-63) from the field, including 36% (9-for-25) from three-point range. The Foresters posted a 33.8% (25-of-74) field goal percentage, including 33.3% (7-of-21) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton out-rebounded Lake Forest 48-36, with the Foresters holding an 11-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
Lake Forest led the Thunder by five points on three different occasions in the first half, the final time occurring in a 13-8 LFC lead with 14:05 remaining in the first half. Lake Forest's Alex Knight made a three-pointer with 3:44 left in the first half to tie the game at 31-31. On Wheaton's next possession, Braun made a layup to give Wheaton a 33-31.
Wheaton never relinquished the lead after Braun's bucket. The layup sparked an 11-2 Thunder run to close out the final 3:25 of the first half, as Wheaton led the Foresters 42-33 at the halftime break. Richardson and Veliz tied for the scoring lead in the first half with 10 points apiece.
Wheaton led by six points at 44-38 with 18:10 left in the second half. A layup by Schultz on Wheaton's next possession started a 13-2 Thunder run that extended Wheaton's lead to 57-40 with 11:40 remaining in the game. The scoring run was highlighted by three-pointers by Neibch on back-to-back Thunder possessions. Wheaton's largest lead of the game was a 23-point bulge at 74-51 with 7:19 remaining in the contest.
Knight led the Foresters with 17 points, and five rebounds. Coltrane Marchand scored 10 points with eight rebounds for the guests.