The Millikin men's basketball team defeated Wheaton College 94-75 on January 27 at the Griswold Center in Decatur, Illinois.

          The Big Blue have struggled in recent games to play a consistent 40 minutes, but tonight Millikin avoided the second half let down.  The Big Blue lead 43-40 at halftime.  Millikin opened the second half on a 12-2 run pushing the lead out to 55-42 with 17:45 left to play. Wheaton tried to make a run over the next few minutes, but the Big Blue answered the challenge.  A Levi Laws three-pointer put Millikin up 63-50 with 15:00 remaining.  After a Wheaton basket, Michael Beaty would connect from long range to push the lead back to 14 points.  A Tyler Pygon steal and a fast break dunk by Elijah Henry had the Griswold Center crowd on its feet and gave Millikin a 68-52 lead with 13:53 left in the game.  A Zach Fisher three-pointer gave the Big Blue a 19-point lead and they never looked back.

          Millikin shot 59 percent from the field including 64 percent in the second half.  Millikin hit 8-21 from three-point range, but were 5-10 in the second half.  Wheaton hit on 41 percent of its shots and went 7-29 from beyond the arc. Millikin dominated the glass out rebounding the Thunder 38-23.

          Millikin had five players score in double figures led by Fisher with 27 points and five assists.  Fisher scored 22 points in the second half. Beaty had 14 points. Jordan Cunningham had 13 points and six rebounds. Elijah Henry and Laws both added 13 points each.  Laws added a team high seven assists.  DaVante Harrell had a team high nine rebounds.

          Wheaton got 20 points, six rebounds and five assists from Ashton Francis.  Kobe Eichelberger and Ricky Samuelson each had 15 points.

          Millikin is now 9-10, 2-8 while Wheaton goes to 13-6, 6-4.

          Millikin host North Park on Wednesday, January 31 at 7 p.m.