Wheaton, Ill.- Something had to give in Friday night's battle of unbeatens between Wheaton and Calvin College in the CCIW-MIAA Classic. That something would not be Wheaton's defense. Wheaton held the Knights to just 29.4% shooting and held Calvin without a field goal for a stretch of six minutes and 25 seconds in the second half as Wheaton improved to 5-0 on the season with a 54-37 victory.

Wheaton used a hot shooting start to open up an early lead on the Knights.  After Calvin scored the game's opening basket.  Michael Berg hit a three-pointer from the corner to give Wheaton a lead at 3-2 that they would never reliquish.  A pair of threes from Michael Kvam preceded a three by Brayden Teuscher (PICTURED LEFT) that gave the Thunder a five-point lead just over five minutes into the match.  A thunderous dunk by Peter Smith highlighted a 10-0 run by the Thunder that put lead into double-digits for the first time at 19-7.

The Thunder remained hot from the three-point line throughout the first half shooting 70% (7-10) and putting the hosts up 32-20 at the intermission.  Wheaton shot 12-24 (50%) from the field in the first half and was 1-2 from the free throw line.

Offense continued to be hard to come by in the second half but Wheaton utilized a 10-0 run over a four minute span in the middle of the second half to build their biggest lead of the night at 22 points.  After their field goal at the 12:43 mark in the second half, Calvin was held without a basket until just 6:18 remained in the game.

Wheaton's defense held Calvin to just 7-25 (28%) from the field in the second half including 1-7 (14.3%) from the three-point line as the Thunder coasted down the stretch to a 54-37 victory.

Wheaton finished shooting 20-47 (42.6%) from the field and 8-15 (53.3%) from the three-point line.  The Thunder were 6-8 from the free throw line.

Peter Smith led the Thunder with a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.  Tyler Peters was Wheaton's leading scorer with 13 points, Nathan Haynes snagged 10 rebounds for the Orange and Blue, and freshman Michael Berg (PICTURED RIGHT) had a season-high five blocks for the Thunder.

Wheaton will face Hope College on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM in King Arena in the final game of the CCIW-MIAA Classic.  Earlier today Hope defeated Carthage 82-70.  Carthage will face Calvin at 1 PM tomorrow afternoon.