Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team hosted CCIW leader Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday night in King Arena. The Titans defeated the Thunder 78-77 in an exciting battle.
Tonight's game was delayed with 12:05 remaining in the first half due to leaks in the vents in the King Arena ceiling. Following a 36-minute delay play was resumed.

All members of Wheaton's starting five tonight scored in double digits as the quintet tallied 74 of Wheaton's 77 points tonight. Nate Sock and Kyle Neibch each scored 16 points to lead the hosts. Neibch shot 5-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-6 behind the three-point arc. Sock collected a game-high seven rebounds, and Neibch added four assists.

Connor Braun scored 15 points with four assists and two steals for the hosts. Nick Schiavello also scored 15 points, distributing a game-high eight assists with two blocked shots. Freshman Soren Richardson tallied 12 points for the hosts.

The Thunder recorded a 44.4% (24-of-54) field goal percentage tonight, including 53.1% (17-of-32) from three-point range. The Titans shot 49.3% (33-of-67) from the field, including 42.9% (6-of-14) behind the three-point arc. Illinois Wesleyan out-rebounded the Thunder 40-30, including a 12-4 edge on the offensive glass. IWU held a 52-12 advantage scoring in the paint. Wheaton out-scored the guests 51-18 from behind the arc.

The Titans scored the first five points tonight and then Wheaton responded with a 9-3 run as the Thunder gained a 9-8 lead with 17:25 remaining in the first half. The Thunder led 16-14 when the delay occurred. The Titans out-scored Wheaton 17-6 in an eight-minute span following the delay as the guests gained a 33-24 lead with 4:05 left before halftime. Wheaton scored the final eight points of the first half to cut the Titans' lead to 33-32 at the halftime intermission. Neibch led all players in first-half scoring with 11 points and Sock added 10 points.      

The largest Illinois Wesleyan lead was 11 points on a few occasions in the second half. The first instance was with a 48-37 IWU lead with 15:25 left in the second half as the Titans opened the half with a 15-5 scoring run. The guests led 67-58 with 6:38 remaining in the game when Schiavello made a pair of free throws. The Thunder defense made a stop on the next IWU possession, and Schiavello converted an and-one on a layup to trim the Titans' lead to 67-63 with 5:57 remaining. Braun made a pair of three-pointers on Wheaton's next two possessions to give the hosts a 69-67 lead with 4:30 left. The 11-0 run by Wheaton came on six points by Braun and five points from Schiavello. The Titans responded with five unanswered points to take a 72-69 lead with 2:31 remaining.

Richardson drained a three-pointer with 2:31 left to tie the game at 72-72. Sock made one of two free throw attempts on the next Thunder possession to give Wheaton a 73-72 advantage with 1:23 left in the game. IWU's Harrison Wilmsen made a layup on the next Titans' possession to give the guests a 74-73 lead with 1:10 remaining in the contest. Richardson responded with a layup for the hosts to give Wheaton a 75-74 lead with 55-seconds remaining. Luke Yoder countered for the guests with a layup that helped IWU regain the lead in a 76-75 lead with 43-seconds left in the contest.

Schiavello's shot on the ensuing Wheaton possession was blocked, however, Sock collected the rebound and was fouled to send the senior to the free throw line. Sock made both shots at the charity stripe to give Wheaton a 77-76 lead with 25-seconds remaining in the game. The Titans used much of the clock on their possession that followed Sock's free throws. Yoder made a layup to give his team a 78-77 advantage with 3.9 seconds remaining. Wheaton got the ball down the court and Schiavello attempted a game-winning three-pointer that was no good as the Titans escaped with the 78-77 victory.

Yoder led the Titans with 23 points, six assists, and two steals. Wilmsen tallied 21 points, with six rebounds. Nick Roper added 11 points and five rebounds. Hakim Williams scored seven points with five steals to his credit.

Wheaton takes to the road for its next conference matchup. The Thunder are scheduled for a 4:15 p.m. tipoff at North Central on Saturday afternoon.