Newberg, Oregon – The Wheaton men's basketball team closed out its two-game trip to the Pacific Northwest with the second victory of the trip on Thursday night. The Thunder held on to defeat George Fox University 86-61. Wheaton improves to 8-3 on the season, while the Bruins fall to 4-6.

The Thunder shot a season-high 66% (31-of-47) field goal percentage tonight, including 69.2% (18-of-26) in the first half. Kobe Eichelberger scored a career-high 28 points for the Thunder tonight on 11-of-16 shooting from the field. Eichelberger and Ricky Samuelson each collected a game-high six rebounds.

Samuelson scored 23 points for the Thunder, shooting 9-of-12 from the field. Aston Francis scored 16 points with six assists.

Luke Peters scored six points with a game-high seven assists. Tyrel Derrick contributed six points off the Thunder bench with three steals.

Wheaton led 10-9 with 15:25 remaining in the first half when a three-pointer by Samuelson sparked an 8-0 Thunder run to extend the guests' lead to 18-9 with 13:15 left in the opening half. The Bruins gradually cut into Wheaton's lead and the hosts gained a 31-30 lead with 4:40 remaining before halftime. Wheaton closed out the final 4:40 of the first half with a 16-2 run to give the Thunder a 46-33 halftime lead. Eichelberger and Samuelson combined to score 14 of Wheaton's 16 points in the run. Eichelberger matched his career-high in the first half alone, with 18 points in the first 20 minutes of the game.

The Thunder maintained a sizeable lead for much of the first half. The Thunder led by 10 at 68-58 with 7:25 remaining in the game when the Bruins put together a 14-1 run to give the hosts a 72-69 lead with 4:45 left in the game.

Wheaton regained the lead to hold a 75-74 lead with 3:05 remaining in the game when a Francis layup started a string of six unanswered points for the Thunder to extend the guests' lead to 81-74 with 1:25 left in the contest. Wheaton led 83-79 with 22-seconds remaining in regulation when George Fox's Thomas Rico made a layup to cut Wheaton's lead to two points at 83-81. Francis made one of two free throw attempts to extend Wheaton's lead to 84-81 with 19-seconds left in the game. A Bruins' three-point attempt on the ensuing possession fell short. Samuelson collected the rebound and the Bruins fouled him. He made both free throws to give Wheaton an 86-81 lead with seven seconds left in the game. The Thunder held the five-point advantage to earn the victory.

Wheaton's 66% field goal percentage tonight is the best single-game field goal percentage for the Thunder since the squad shot 69.4% (34-of-49) in a victory at Millikin on January 15, 2017. Wheaton shot 41.7% (5-of-12) from three-point range tonight and posted a 70.4% (19-for-27) free throw percentage. The Bruins shot 40% (26-of-65) from the field, including 46.4% (13-of-28) from three-point range. The hosts had a 94.1% (16-of-17) free throw percentage in the game. Wheaton out-rebounded the Bruins 36-25 and George Fox held a 10-6 advantage on the offensive glass. Wheaton dominated down low tonight, out-scoring the Bruins 46-24 in the paint.

Mason Green-Richards led George Fox with 20 points, making four three-pointers. Green-Richards grabbed four rebounds, with four steals. Thomas Rico scored 15 points and Ryan Lacey added 13 points with four rebounds. Ryan Lacey and Johnathan Doutt each scored 13 points. He distributed a team-high five assists for the Bruins.

The Thunder resume conference play on January 3, 2018 when the Carroll Pioneers visit King Arena for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.