St. Paul, Minn.- The ninth-ranked Thunder men's basketball team was outscored 43-32 in the second half and suffered their first loss of the season, 67-62 at Northwestern (Minn.).  Wheaton falls to 9-1 on the season while the Eagles improve to 7-2.  Wheaton will wrap up the 2012 portion of their schedule on Saturday night when they face North Central University (Minn.) at 4 PM in Minneapolis.

The first half was a back and forth affair that saw five ties and seven lead changes.  With the game tied at 19 with 7:07 remaining the half Peter Smith's three-pointer started an 11-5 Thunder run to end that half that was capped by a Nate Serenius jumper that gave Wheaton a 30-24 lead at the half.

Smith trained a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half to give Wheaton their biggest lead of the night at nine points.  Northwestern methodically chipped away at the lead and finally retook the lead with at 47-46 on a three by Mat Watnemo.  The Eagles pushed the lead to five before the Thunder came charging back and took at 55-54 lead on Tad Fisher's (PICTURED RIGHT) three-pointer with 3:23 remaining.

Northwestern took the lead on the ensuing possession and would not relinquish it.  The Thunder were able to cut the lead to one on a layup by Tyler Peters with 1:06 remaining, but the Eagles put the game away with a three-pointer by Libby Ellis on the next possession and then iced the game at the free throw line to claim the 67-62 victory.

Wheaton shot 38.1% (24-63) from the field and just 17.4% (4-23) from beyond the arc. Wheaton was just 10-19 (52.6%) from the charity stripe.  The Eagles shot 47.1% from the floor and were 7-15 (46.7%) from the three-point line as well as a 12-13 (92.3%) showing from the free throw line.

Peters led the Thunder with 24 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Nathan Haynes grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Thunder.  Peter Smith chipped in 12 points. 

The Eagles were led by Tom Gisler with 18 points and Wade Chitwood with 16.  Daniel Petkau grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.