Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team dropped a closely contested CCIW contest with fifth-ranked Augustana on Wednesday night at home, 80-77. The league-leading Vikings are now 21-1 on the year, with a 10-1 CCIW record, while Wheaton falls to 15-7 overall and 6-5 in the CCIW. The Thunder will host Illinois Wesleyan (16-5/7-3 CCIW) on Saturday night at 7:30 PM in a critical CCIW contest in King Arena.

Augustana led by as many as 11 points in the first half and held a 47-36 lead at halftime. The Vikings led 71-60 with two minutes remaining in the game when Wheaton sophomore Nate Serenius made a three-pointer to spark a 13-3 Wheaton rally that cut the Vikings' lead to 74-73 with 44-seconds left in the contest. The Wheaton scoring run included three-pointers by Serenius, Andrew Jahns and Jeremy Pflederer, along with a key put-back on a missed shot by Tyler Peters. Augustana shot 6-for-8 from the free throw line in the final minute in securing the victory.

Forward Tim McCrary led Wheaton with 15 points and six rebounds. Spencer Schultze contributed 14 points and Pflederer scored 11 points, making three shot from behind the arc. Serenius scored 10 points off the Thunder bench. Jahns and Peters each scored nine points, with Jahns collecting six rebounds and Peters added five assists in a strong outing from the rookie.

Brian DeSimone led Augustana with 17 points and Troy Rorer added 15 points for the guests. Kyle Nelson scored 15 points and collected a game-high eight rebounds.

Wheaton posted a 46.3% (25-54) field goal percentage in the game, including 57.1% (8-14) from three-point range and 82.6% (19-23) at the free throw line. Augustana shot 50.9% (27-53) from the field, with 50% (6-12) from three –point range and 71.4% (20-28) at the charity stripe. Augustana out-rebounded the Thunder 35-28, with the Vikings holding an 11-7 edge on the offensive glass.