Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton men's basketball team, ranked sixth in this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 poll, opened the 2021-22 season on Wednesday at home against Benedictine. The Thunder picked up a hard-earned 82-80 victory against the Eagles.

Thunder All-American Nyameye Adom scored 23 points tonight on 10-for-17 shooting from the field. Adom made a pair of three-pointers and added four assists. Adom entered tonight's game with 979 career points and his 23-point effort tonight put him over the 1,000-point plateau for his career at 1,002 career points. He is the 46th player in Wheaton men's basketball history to surpass 1,000 career points.

Senior forward Cade Alioth had a huge game tonight with 17 points and career-high 19 rebounds. Alioth shot 6-of-11 from the field, and he had five offensive rebounds in helping Wheaton to 18 points in second-chance points tonight. The senior surpassed his previous career-high of 18 rebounds against North Central on February, 25, 2021. Alioth's 19-rebound performance is the most in a game for a Wheaton player since Martin Trimiew collected 19 for the Thunder against Marian College (Ind.) on December 10, 2004.

Tyson Cruickshank scored 19 points, making three three-pointers, and he distributed six assists with five rebounds. Eli Considine scored 10 points, making a pair of three-pointers, with four rebounds. Eddie Scott scored seven points for the hosts and Nick Schiavello tallied six points with eight rebounds.

Wheaton shot 49.2% (30-for-61) from the field, including 42.9% (9-for-21) from three-point range. The Eagles posted a 46.3% (31-of-67) field goal percentage, including 45.5% (10-for-22) behind the three-point arc. Wheaton shot 65% (13-of-20) at the free throw line and the Eagles shot 61.5% (8-for-13) at the charity stripe. The Thunder out-rebounded Benedictine 43-31 tonight, including a 13-9 edge on the offensive glass.

Trevor Montiel led Benedictine with 26 points and he added six rebounds. Marvin Agwomoh scored 17 points, Michael Johnson scored 14 points and Kick Kosich added 12 points for the guests. Cade Ellingson had a team-high six assists for the guests.

The Eagles played well early in tonight's game, leading by as many as 10 points with a 19-9 advantage for the guests with 12:50 remaining in the first half. The Eagles led by seven points at 36-29 with 3:20 remaining in the first half when the Thunder put together a 10-5 run to close out the half to trim Benedictine's lead to two points at halftime as the guests led 41-39. Adom scored six of Wheaton's 10 points in the run, and Considine made a key three-pointer in transition with 1:22 left in the first half.

Adom scored 11 points in the first half to lead Wheaton and Montiel tallied 11 points for the Eagles. Alioth collected eight first-half rebounds.,

Benedictine held a six-point lead at 54-48 with 15:40 remaining in the second half when Eddie Scott made a layup. Scott's basket was the start of a key 14-2 Wheaton run that gave the Thunder a 62-56 lead with 11:50 remaining in the game. Cruickshank made two three-pointers and Adom added one trifecta in the key Thunder run.

The Eagles battled back and Johnson made a pair of free throws for the visitors to tie the game at 76-76 with 2:37 remaining in regulation. On Wheaton's next possession, Alioth drove to the hoop to give Wheaton a 78-76 lead with 2:25 remaining in the game. The Thunder never relinquished the lead after Alioth's basket. The teams traded possessions over the next minute. A Thunder layup attempt with 1:01 remaining in regulation was missed, but Alioth was there to collect the offensive rebound and he quickly put back a layup to increase Wheaton's lead to 80-76 with 1:01 remaining in the game. The Eagles made a pair of free throws to trim Wheaton's lead to 80-78 with 45-seconds remaining. In the final 15-seconds, Adom collected an offensive rebound off his own miss and put it back for a layup to extend Wheaton's lead to four points and 82-78. Montiel made a basket with six seconds remaining as the Eagles cut Wheaton's lead to 82-80. The Eagles fouled Cruickshank with four seconds left. The senior missed the first of the one-and-one and Benedictine collected the rebound, but the Eagles' long three-point attempt was after the horn and Wheaton emerged with the victory.

Wheaton travels to Lake Forest next Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff against the Foresters.