Judah Newby
Sports Editor
With the end of November comes the beginning of basketball season, and the Thunder men’s team welcomed it with four straight victories to start the year. Wheaton was 3-0 in contests prior to Thanksgiving and before going on the road on Wednesday, Nov. 28, and defeating the University of Chicago to improve their record to 4-0.
Wheaton opened with consecutive wins over Capital University (Ohio) 80-45 and Alma College (Mich.) 83-43 at King Arena to win the annual Lee Pfund Classic. Sophomore shooting guard Michael Kvam connected on seven three-pointers in the win over Capital for a game-high 23 points.
Junior point guard Tyler Peters scored 17 while adding four assists and four steals against Capital. Peters then had 18 points, three assists, and six steals to lead the team’s victory over Alma. He earned a pair of awards for his opening-weekend performance and was named the CCIW Player of the Week as well as the Will Landry MVP of the Lee Pfund Classic.
The Thunder were back at it again on Tuesday, Nov. 20, taking on Loras College (Iowa) in King Arena. Peters made his presence felt often on the offensive end, scoring 17 points in the first half and leading his team to a 22-5 advantage to open the game and a 49-28 lead at the half. He scored 15 more points in the second half for a total of 32 points, a career high for him.
The Thunder missed eight of their 25 shots in the first half and finished at 59 percent shooting for the game. Wheaton also out-rebounded Loras 28-23 including nine-seven on the offensive glass. Sophomore guard Brayden Teuscher added 21 points, Kvam added nine and junior post Nate Haynes scored seven to go along with seven rebounds.
The Thunder took their 3-0 record on the road for the first time this season on Wednesday, Nov. 28, against University of Chicago. Wheaton got offensive momentum early in the opening half thanks to three three-pointers from Kvam and grabbed a 28-23 advantage at the halftime break.
Chicago rallied back and tied the Thunder at 39-39, but Wheaton’s offense was able to pull away thanks to a 17-5 run over the next six minutes to grab a 54-44 lead. The Thunder defense kept the Maroons away from the lead the rest of the way, winning by a final score of 64-52.
Peters finished with 24 points to lead all scorers on eight-of-14 shooting. Kvam added 15 of his own thanks to four-of-eight shooting on three-point attempts. Haynes added nine points, six boards and four blocks while Teuscher added seven and sophomore Peter Smith scored five with seven rebounds.
The win keeps the Thunder undefeated on the year heading into this weekend’s annual CCIW-MIAA Classic. Wheaton plays host to Calvin College (Mich.) tonight at 8 p.m., before taking on Hope College (Mich.) Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on WETN-TV and streaming live online at wetn.org.
File Photo: Allison Freet
Printed in the November 30, 2012, issue of The Wheaton Record. Send comments to the.record@my.wheaton.edu.