Wheaton, Ill. - David nearly brought down Goliath on Saturday night in King Arena. As the curtain fell on a frustrating season for the Thunder men's basketball team, Wheaton treated a frenzied King Arena crowd to an unforgettable matchup against #1-ranked Augustana. Jonathan Berntsen's three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out as the Thunder fell just short of the upset in a 103-101 overtime loss to the top-ranked Vikings. With the victory, Augustana clinched an outright CCIW Championship, improving to 24-1 overall and 13-1 in the CCIW. Wheaton closes its season with a 5-20 overall record.

Wheaton shot a season-best 58.3% (35-60) from the field including a 60% (9-15) clip from beyond arc. Wheaton was an outstanding 95.7% (22-23) from the free throw line. Augustana shot 55.2% (37-67) from the field but shot just 35.7% (5-14) from the three-point line. The Vikings were 24-for-35 (68.6%) from the charity stripe. Both teams finished with 30 rebounds but the Vikings held a 12-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

Hungry to closeout their conference title, the Vikings came storming out of the gate and rushed out to a 23-13 lead just seven minutes into the game. Trae Masten would provide the spark to help pull Wheaton back into the game as the freshmen connected on two three-pointers to spark a 14-3 Wheaton run that gave the Thunder a 27-26 lead with 8:33 remaining in the half. Six straight points by the Vikings pushed Augustana back into the lead and send the visitors on to a 41-34 halftime advantage.

Three-pointers by Ricky Samuelson and Joel Smith (PICTURED RIGHT) brought Wheaton to within 43-42 to start the second half but once again the Vikings answered with five straight points. Wheaton closed to within 50-49 four minutes into the second half on Joel Smith's jumper before Augustana answered with another 5-0 run. Wheaton would finally pull even at 58-58 on a lay-up by Jonathan Berntsen with 13:04 to play, setting off a back and forth seqence over the next three minutes that saw the lead see-saw back and forth until Griffin Pils hit a three-pointer to make it 69-64 Vikings at the midway point of the half.

Michael Berg's baseline jumper capped a six-point Thunder spurt and gave the hosts the lead their first lead of the second half at 72-71 with 7:34 remaining. Once again the lead swung back and forth over the next few minutes until a Hunter Hill lay-up gave the Vikings a 79-76 lead with 5:26 to play. Murad Dillard followed with a jumper and then found Joel Smith on the right wing for a three-pointer that sent King Arena up for grabs and gave Wheaton an 81-79 lead.

Pils gave the Vikings an 86-83 lead with 1:38 to play in the game but as he had repeatedly down the stretch, Jonathan Berntsen came up with the big shot, nailing a straight-away three-pointer to knot the score at 86 with 1:15 remaining. Augustana would connect on the ensuing possession and looked to wrap things up when Berntsen's three went halfway down and popped out leading to an intentional foul and a 91-86 lead for the Vikings with just 86 seconds left. Atoninig for the miss, Berntsen connected on a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left and after two missed free throws by Juwan Straughter, found Ricky Samuelson (PICTURED LEFT) in the corner for a three-pointer that tied the score at 91-91 with 6.1 seconds left. Hill's long heave fell short at the buzzer and the game headed to overtime.

Augustana led wire to wire in the overtime period but not without plenty of intrigue along the way. Wheaton would cut the Viking lead down to one point on three occasions before Pils connected on a corner three that gave the Vikings a 102-98 lead with 53 seconds left and looked to be the dagger. Once again it was Berntsen with the answer as the senior point guard finished a lay-up with contact and was able to convert the three-point play to pull within 102-101 with 45 seconds to play.

After Pils split a pair of free throws with five seconds to play, giving the Vikings a 103-101 lead, Berntsen rushed into the front court and found an open look for a long three that hit the iron and bounced off giving the Vikings the victory.

Jonathan Berntsen led all scorers with 33 points to go with six rebounds and two steals to lead five Thunder players in double-digits. Ricky Samuelson finished with 17 points, Murad Dillard had 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds, Joel Smith tallied 14 points and Michael Berg had 10 points for the Thunder. Griffin Pils led five Vikings in double figures with 27 points. Ben Ryan added 21 points a team-high six rebounds.