Wheaton, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team topped IIT 76-55 in a non-conference matchup in King Arena on Saturday night. Wheaton has won seven of its last eight games and is now 13-4 on the following tonight's victory. Wheaton hosts eighth-ranked Augustana on Wednesday night in King Arena in a conference matchup with huge implications on the CCIW standings.

Thunder junior Aston Francis scored 24 points, making three three-pointers, in tonight's victory. Francis distributed six assists and grabbed six rebounds.

Junior Kobe Eichelberger shot 9-of-12 from the field, including a pair of "highlight reel" dunks, to scored 20 points. The Thunder forward collected nine rebounds, including four offensive boards. Junior Luke Peters scored 11 points with six rebounds.

Spencer Peters scored seven points with four rebounds. Zack Kvam contributed six assists with two steals. Jay Spencer scored five points with five blocked shots. Ricky Samuelson contributed five points with two steals.

The two teams battled through a tightly contested first half with eight lead changes and the contest was tied on five occasions. Wheaton's largest lead in the opening half was just five points. The Thunder held a 37-36 lead at the halftime intermission.

IIT led 44-43 with 17:10 left in the second half when a basket by Peters sparked a string of 10-unanswered points for the Thunder to give Wheaton a 53-44 lead with 15:00 left in the game. The Scarlet Hawks never got within seven points of the Thunder for the remainder of the game. Wheaton's largest lead of the contest was a 23-point bulge at 74-51 with 3:15 left in the game when Francis registered his final basket of the game. The Thunder dominated the second half, out-scoring IIT 39-19.

Wheaton posted a 53.2% (33-of-62) field goal percentage, including 38.9% (7-of-18) behind the three-point arc. The Scarlet Knights shot 31.7% (20-of-63) from the floor, including 37.5% (6-of-16) from three-point range. Wheaton was 3-of-9 (33.3) at the free throw line tonight and IIT shot 69.2% (9-of-13) at the charity stripe. The guests held a 42-35 advantage in rebounding, including a 21-12 edge on the offensive glass. The Scarlet Knights committed 15 turnovers, with Wheaton capitalizing for 29 points off those turnovers tonight.

Anthony Mosely, Jr. led the Scarlet Hawks with 21 points. Jake Digiorgio tallied a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Max Hisatake grabbed 15 rebounds with eight points for the guests. Jake Bruns added nine points.