Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton College men's basketball team picked up an 89-70 victory against Alma College (1-7) on Saturday in Wheaton's King Arena. Wheaton, ranked 22nd in this week's d3hoops.com Top-25 poll, is now 6-3 on the year. The Thunder will host University of Northwestern (Minn.) next Friday at 7:30 PM.
Brayden Teuscher led the Thunder with 24 points behind a 12-for-13 effort at the free throw line. The Thunder junior added four assists and three steals. Tyler Peters scored 20 points, going 9-for-10 at the free throw line, and adding seven assists. Sophomore Michael Berg had a strong effort with a career-high 17 points. Berg shot 7-for-11 from the field and he grabbed eight rebounds. Caleb DeMoss contributed eight points for the hosts and senior Nate Haynes collected a game-high nine rebounds, with three blocked shots.
DJ Beckman led Alma with a team-high 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field. Chase Fairchild scored 11 points off the Scots' bench. Kyle Aho scored 10 points, Scott Nikodemski contributed nine points, with four assists and Isiah Law tallied eight points.
Wheaton dominated the Scots on the glass tonight, out-rebounding Alma 37-24, with a 9-4 advantage on the offensive glass. Wheaton recorded a 51.9% (28-54) field goal percentage, with a season-high 52.6% (10-19) effort from three-point range and 88.5% (23-36) at the free throw line. Alma shot 43.4% (23-53) from the field, with 33.3% (6-18) from three-point range and 81.8% (18-22) at the charity stripe.
Alma jumped out to an early 6-1 in the first three minutes of the game and the Scots held a six-point lead at 13-7 with 13:30 remaining in the first half. That would be the guests' largest lead of the night. Alma led 17-12 with 11:30 left in the opening half when Wheaton responded with eight unanswered points to give the Thunder its first lead of the night, as Wheaton led 20-17 with 8:25 left. Teuscher and Berg each scored four points in the 8-0 run. Wheaton continued to add onto its lead as the Thunder owned a 46-33 lead at halftime.
Wheaton continued to add onto its lead in the second half. The hosts' largest lead of the game was a 28-point bulge that occurred twice in the game. The final time was a 77-49 lead with 8:25 remaining in regulation.