Rock Island, Ill.- Seeking a signature conference win, the Wheaton Thunder turned in one of their most complete performances of the season on Wednesday night in an 86-67 victory over #23-ranked Augustana at the Carver Center. Wheaton shot 11-for-15 from three-point range, including making the first five three-point attempts of the second half to pull away from the Vikings and coast to the victory. With the win, Wheaton improves to 13-3 on the season and 3-2 in CCIW action.

Wheaton opened the game with a quick 6-0 lead before the Vikings came back to tie the game at eight points apiece. The lead would not expand to more than a possession either way for much of the remainder of the first half as neither team could find breathing room. A pair of free throws by Augustana's Nick Huepfner with 3:56 remaining in the first half gave Augustana their biggest lead of the night at 29-26.

Despite struggling with early foul trouble, the post play of Joe Sokovich (PICTURED RIGHT) fueled a 6-0 Thunder run that gave Wheaton a lead that they would not relinquish. Michael Berg's three-pointer with two seconds remaining in the first half gave Wheaton a 37-32 lead at the break.

Augustana opened the second half by cutting the lead down to a point just over a minute into the half but a three-pointer by Michael Kvam steadied the Thunder and pushed the lead back to four. A pair of free throws by Sokovich and a jumper by Caleb DeMoss (PICTURED BELOW) pushed the Thunder lead to seven at 44-37. After Mark Roth's three brought Augustana back to within five points with 12:35 remaining, Wheaton reeled off a 13-0 run that included a pair of threes from Kvam, a trifecta by Brayden Teuscher and a three-point play by DeMoss put Wheaton ahead 67-49 with just over nine minutes remaining.

Wheaton would coast from there, leading by as many as 22 points en route to the 86-67 victory.

Wheaton shot 64.3% (27-42) from the field and was 11-for-15 from the three-point line. The Thunder were 21-of-26 (80.8%) from the free throw line.

Augustana was 48.9% (23-47) from the field, shooting 3-for-10 from the three-point line. The Vikings were 18-of-29 (62.1%) from the charity stripe.

Kvam led all scorers with 21 points including a 5-for-6 performance from beyond the arc. Teuscher netted 19 for the Thunder and Michael Berg scored 11 for the guests. Nate Haynes led the Thunder wtih five rebounds.

Wheaton will continue its road trip on Saturday night when the squad travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin to take on the Carthage Red Men with a 7:30 PM tipoff.