Wheaton, Ill. – A basket by Wheaton junior Joel Smith in the final second of regulation gave the Wheaton men's basketball team a 46-45 win against Carthage College on Saturday night in King Arena. The dramatic game-winning basket by Smith gave Wheaton its only lead of the second half.

Wheaton is now 9-9 on the season and 2-5 in CCIW play. The Thunder will return to action on Wednesday night in a 7:00 p.m. tipoff at Illinois Wesleyan. Carthage is 7-10 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

There were three lead changes in the first half and the score was tied four times in the opening half. Wheaton led 17-15 with 4:40 remaining in the first half when the Red Men closed out the half with a 7-2 run that gave the guests a 22-19 lead at halftime. Wheaton's lead at the 4:40 mark of the opening half was Wheaton's final lead of the game until Joel Smith's game-winner in the final second of regulation.

Thunder junior Jonathan Berntsen drained a three-pointer with 14:10 left in regulation to tie the game at 26-26. However, the Red Men scored the next nine points of the game to build a 35-26 lead with 11:15 remaining in regulation. Wheaton battled back and a three-pointer by Caleb DeMoss cut the Carthage lead to 40-38 with 3:54 remaining in the game.

A layup by Carthage's Mike Stevenson with 3:23 left in regulation would be the guests' final field goal of the night as the Red Men used Stevenson's basket and a free throw to hold a five-point lead at 44-39 with 2:35 remaining in regulation. Berntsen made two free throws to cut the guests' lead to 44-41 with 1:24 remaining in regulation. Carthage's Donte Logan made one of two free throw attempts to give the Red Men a 45-41 lead with 51-seconds left in regulation.

Wheaton's Michael Berg grabbed the rebound on the miss of Logan's second free throw attempt and on Wheaton's next trip down the court Brayden Teuscher made a three-pointer that trimmed the Carthage lead to 45-44 with 43-seconds left in regulation. A missed three-point attempt by Carthage with nine seconds remaining in regulation was rebounded by DeMoss who pushed the ball down the court and found Smith who hit the game-winning shot from approximately 17-feet out.

Berg led the Thunder with 13 points and he grabbed six rebounds. Joel Smith added 11 points with five rebounds. DeMoss and Teuscher each scored seven points as DeMoss added eight rebounds with four assists.

The Thunder shot 29.4% (15-of-51) from the field tonight, including 33.3% (6-of-18) from three-point range and the Thunder had an 83.3% (10-for-12) effort at the free throw line. Carthage shot a 41.3% (19-for-46) field goal percentage tonight that included a 33.3% (4-for-12) effort from three-point range and the Red Men shot 50% (3-for-6) at the charity stripe. Carthage out-rebounded the Thunder 35-30 and the Thunder held a 9-8 advantage on the offensive glass.

Carthage's Cameron Van Wyk scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Red Men and he added seven rebounds. Logan scored 10 points, with six rebounds and eight assists. Stevenson added nine points for the guests.