San Antonio, Texas – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team closed out the non-conference portion of its regular season schedule on Thursday afternoon with a 70-65 victory against Pacific Lutheran University (5-6) at the Trinity University National Invitational. Wheaton (9-2) will open conference play on January 4 at Illinois Wesleyan. 

The Lutes jumped out to an early 14-7 lead in the first six minutes of the game. The Thunder chipped away to take a 23-19 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. Wheaton led PLU 38-35 at halftime.

In the second half, the Thunder stepped up its lead to a 56-48 edge with 7:40 to go in the game. The Lutes responded with five un-answered points to cut Wheaton's lead to 56-53 with five minutes remaining. A PLU three-pointer by James Conti gave the Lutes their first lead of the second half at 62-61 with 1:40 remaining in the game. Wheaton's Jeremy Pflederer responded with a three-pointer of his own to give Wheaton a 64-62 lead with 1:20 left in the contest. 

Wheaton forward Spencer Schultze made two free throws with 18-seconds left to increase the 'Orange and Blue' lead to 66-62, however PLU cut the advantage to one point 66-65 on a three-pointer by Cameron Reister with 12-seconds left. The Lutes were forced to foul Tad Fisher with seven seconds left and made both to increase Wheaton's lead to 68-65. On the ensuing PLU in bounds, the Lutes brought the ball to about half court, where Wheaton's Aaron Garriott knocked the ball out of the ball-handlers hand. Tyler  Peters recovered the loose ball and passed it off to an open Garriott who dunked the ball as time expired for the five-point Wheaton win.

Tim McCrary led the Thunder with 20 points on a 10-for-10 effort at the free throw line. The All-American also contributed six rebounds, with seven assists. Peters scored 11 points, on five-for-seven shooting from the field, with four assists. Spencer Schultze contributed nine points, with seven assists and Pflederer added nine points on three three-point field goals. Garriott scored eight points, with two steals.

Cameron Schilling led Pacific Lutheran with 15 points and six rebounds. Andrew Earnest added 13 points and Zachary Klein scored 12 points.

Wheaton shot 55.8% (24-43) from the field, with 50% (6-12) from three-point range and 88.9% (16-18) at the free throw line. Pacific Lutheran registered a 48.9% (23-47) field goal percentage with 64.3% (9-14) from three-point range and 58.8% (10-17) at the charity stripe.