Waukesha, Wis. – The fifth-ranked Wheaton men's basketball team remained undefeated after a dominant 74-39 victory at Carroll University on Thursday night. Strong shooting, particularly from junior guard Tyson Cruickshank, helped the Thunder move to 8-0 on the season (8-0 CCIW), while Carroll dropped to 3-4 overall (3-4 CCIW).
 
Cruickshank led all scorers, tallying 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from behind the three-point line. The junior made his first ten shots of the night, including all five of his three-pointers, and didn't miss an attempt until 30 minutes into the contest. Cruickshank also grabbed two rebounds and dished out four assists.
 
Nyameye Adom scored 11 points for the Thunder and also tallied four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Cade Alioth led the charge on the glass with eight rebounds to go along with his six points. Luke Anthony added nine points on a trio of three-pointers.
 
The Thunder shot the ball extremely well all night, racking up a field goal percentage of 52.5% (29-for-55) from the field, and unleashing a barrage of three-pointers to the tune of 50% (13-for-26). The Pioneers shot 30.4% (14-for-46) from the field to go along with 28.6% (4-for-14) from behind the three-point line. Wheaton shot 3-for-8 (37.5%) at the free throw line, compared to Carroll's 7-for-11 (63.8%) from the charity stripe. Wheaton edged out Carroll in the rebounding battle, 29-24, and the Thunder scored 14 points off of Carroll's 15 turnovers. 
 
Carroll opened the game with a quick layup on their initial possession, but Cruickshank's first three-pointer of the night gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead with 17:44 to go. Although the Pioneers answered with a three-point shot of their own to go up 5-3, it would turn out to be their last lead of the night. The first seven minutes after tipoff saw only ten total points scored between the two teams, but after Adom broke a 5-5 tie on a driving layup with 13:07 to go, the Thunder never looked back. Wheaton only extended their lead over the rest of the first half, stringing together scoring runs of 9-0 and 6-0 in quick succession before capping off the period with an 8-0 run over the last 6:20 to head into halftime with a 33-14 lead.
 
The second half brought more of the same for Wheaton, though the Thunder offensive attack was more balanced than in the first. Cruickshank added nine points to his first-half scoring total of 14, Eli Considine and Luke Anthony each scored six points, and sophomore Andrew Williams totaled five points. In all, 10 Thunder players scored baskets in the final 20 minutes, as they steadily increased their lead of 19 at half to 35 by the time the final buzzer sounded.
 
Justin Steinike led the Pioneers with nine points on 4-10 shooting. Ryan Mendoza added seven points and Isaiah Smith pulled down five rebounds.
 
The Thunder will face off in a rematch against Carroll on Saturday afternoon when the Pioneers travel to King Arena to tip off at 2:00 p.m.