Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team defeated University of Northwestern-St. Paul by a score of 69-47 on Friday night inside Wheaton's King Arena. Wheaton is now 7-3 on the year following the victory, while the Eagles fall to 3-6 overall. The Thunder, ranked 23rd in this week's d3hoops.com Top-25 poll, will be off until Jan.2 when the squad travels to ninth-ranked Washington University-St. Louis.
Senior Tyler Peters led the Thunder with 20 points as he shot 8-for-12 from the field. The senior also contributed four assists, four rebounds and four steals. Nate Haynes scored 13 points, shooting 7-for-10 from the field. He grabbed nine rebounds, with two blocked shots and two steals. Junior Peter Smith scored nine points, while Caleb DeMoss and Brayden Teuscher each scored nine points. DeMoss was 4-for-5 from the field.
The Thunder shot 42.3% (11-26) in the first half and put together a stellar 58.6% (17-29) field goal percentage in the second half as Wheaton posted a 50.9% (28-55) field goal percentage for the game. The Thunder shot 22.7% (5-22) from three-point range and 61.5% (8-13) at the free throw line. Northwestern posted a 44.7% (17-38) field goal percentage, with 28.6% (4-14) from behind the three-point arc and 69.2% (9-13) at the charity stripe. Each team collected 26 rebounds, with the Thunder owning an 8-4 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Eagles took an early 12-5 lead in the first six minutes of the game. Wheaton responded with a 12-4 run to gain a 17-6 advantage. Northwestern's Michael Carney hit one of two free throw attempts with eight minutes left in the first half, however Wheaton's Peter Smith made a three-pointer on the next possession to give Wheaton a 20-17 edge with 7:35 remaining in the game. Wheaton never trailed from that point on. A basket by Northwestern's Caleb Jansen with two-seconds left in the first half cut Wheaton's lead to 31-29 at halftime of the matchup. The Eagles were efficient offensively in the first half, shooting 57.9% (11-19) in the first half.
Wheaton scored the first eight points of the second half to gain a 39-29 lead with 17:50 remaining in the game. The Thunder defense held Northwestern without a field goal in the first 3:40 of the second half. A three-pointer by Carney cut Wheaton's lead to 43-37, but Wheaton responded with a key 13-3 scoring surge to increase the hosts' lead to 56-40 with 6:15 remaining in the game. Wheaton's 22-point margin of victory was the largest lead of the game.
The Eagles scored 29 points in the first half and the Thunder defense helped key Wheaton's strong second half as the hosts out-scored Northwestern 38-18 after the halftime intermission. Wheaton's defense held the Eagles to just 31.6% (6-19) from the field in the second half.
Carney led Northwestern with a game-high 21 points. Will Gisler scored 11 points with five rebounds and Eric Witthus tallied nine points for guests.