Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 58-57 victory against Augustana College (16-6/6-5 CCIW) on Wednesday night at Wheaton's King Arena. Wheaton, ranked 22nd in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, improves to 17-5 overall and 7-4 in conference play. The Thunder will travel Millikin University on Saturday for a 4 PM tipoff against the Big Blue.
Tyler Peters led Wheaton tonight with 21 points and six rebounds. Fellow junior Nathan Haynes contributed 16 points, with six rebounds and five blocked shots. Brayden Teuscher added eight points, with four assists and three steals for the hosts.
Wheaton shot 40% (22-55) from the field, with 21.1% (4-19) from behind the three-point arc and 71.4% (10-14) at the free throw line. Augustana posted a 44.7% (21-47) field goal percentage, with 22.2% (2-9) from three-point range and 81.3% (13-16) at the charity stripe. Augustana out-rebounded the Thunder 40-24, with the guests holding a 14-11 edge on the offensive glass.
Brandon Kunz led Augustana with 12 points and six rebounds. Danielius Jurgutis scored 11 points, with five rebounds and three assists. Ben Ryan added nine points with a game-high 11 rebounds for the Vikings.
The game was tied at 15-15 with 8:05 remaining in the first half when a basket by Peters sparked a 13-5 scoring run for the Thunder to close out the first half, giving Wheaton a 28-20 lead at halftime.
Wheaton maintained a lead throughout the second half. The Thunder led 54-48 with 5:25 remaining in regulation when the Vikings put together a 7-2 scoring edge to trim Wheaton's lead to 56-55 with three minutes left. Peters made a pair of free throws with 2:38 left in regulation to increase Wheaton's advantage to 58-55. Augustana's Ryan made two free throws with 1:34 left in regulation to cut the Thunder led to 58-57. Wheaton missed a field goal attempt with 1:13 remaining in regulation and the Vikings collected the rebound. Augustana missed a field goal attempt on its ensuing possession and the ball went out of bounds to Wheaton.
Wheaton had a lengthy possession on its next opportunity, with a three-point attempt missing as the shot clock expired and three-seconds left on the game clock. Augustana gathered the rebound, but was unable to get a shot attempt off during regulation as Wheaton escaped with the one-point win.