Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton men's basketball team earned a 70-67 victory against Millikin on Wednesday night at home.
Freshman Ricky Samuelson stole the show with 18 points tonight, all coming in a blistering stretch of five-and-a-half minutes in the second half. Samuelson made five three pointers during the stretch. Fellow freshman Murad Dillard also played a key role tonight as he shot 4-for-5 from the field to score nine points off the Thunder bench. Dillard also grabbed five rebounds with two assists.
Senior Brayden Teuscher scored nine points for the hosts tonight. Sophomore Joel Smith scored nine points, with five rebounds and two blocked shots. Michael Berg grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and scored six points. Caleb DeMoss scored seven points with four assists and Jonathan Berntsen tallied six points with two assists.
Millikin held a narrow lead for the much of the first half as the Big Blue led 28-24 at halftime. The guests scored the first five points of the second half to increase the Millikin lead to 33-24 just two minutes into the second half. Millikin led 36-29 with 16:20 remaining in regulation when the Thunder put together a 9-1 run to give the hosts a 38-37 lead on a layup by Dillard with 13:19 left in the second half.
Millikin regained the lead and the Big Blue led 44-38 with 10:41 left in regulation when Samuelson made his first three-pointer of the night. His three-pointer began a run that saw Samuelson score all 11 points for Wheaton in an 11-3 run that gave Wheaton a 49-47 lead with 9:17 remaining in regulation. The rookie went on to make a three-pointer and a free throw with 7:58 left in the game and his final three-pointer came with 5:07 left in the game to give the hosts a 63-54 lead. Samuelson's 18-point barrage was part of a 25-10 surge for the Thunder that saw Wheaton turn a 44-38 deficit into a 63-54 lead with 5:07 remaining in the game.
Millikin countered with six consecutive points to trim Wheaton's lead to 63-60 with 2:23 left in regulation. Wheaton, the nation's leading free throw shooting team made seven of its eight free throw attempts in the final two minutes to lock up the 70-67 win.
The Thunder shot 41.3% (19-of-46) from the field, including 36% (9-for-25) behind the three-point arc. The hosts had an 82.1% (23-for-28) effort at the charity stripe tonight. Millikin tallied a 35.9% (23-for-64) field goal percentage, with 58.3% (7-for-12) from the three-point range and 70% (14-for-20) at the charity stripe. The Thunder held a 39-38 advantage in rebounding and Millikin owned a 14-8 edge on the offensive glass.
TJ Sims led Millikin tonight with 22 points and three assists. Tommy Pilackas and Nathan Biggs each scored nine points for the guests. Zach Long grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for the Big Blue and TJ Griffin distributed five assists.