Calvin led Wheaton 34-29 at halftime and the Knights’ lead increased to 50-39 with 12:36 remaining in the second half. At that point Wheaton closed the gap as Thunder senior Jonathan Steven drained a long three-pointer and guard Jon Nielson stripped the ball from Calvin and scored on a layup. Nielson struck again when he stripped the ball from the Knights and was intentionally fouled. He made the two ensuing free throws, center Jim Fortosis made a basket following the free throws and a Calvin miss led to another lengthy three-pointer by Steven as Wheaton scored 12 unanswered points to take a 51-50 lead. Wheaton led 77-74 with 15-seconds left in the second half when Calvin guard Andy Draayer made a three-pointer to tie the game 77-77. Wheaton missed a shot attempt as time wound down and Calvin missed a desperation three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
The game was tied 84-84 with 1:38 left in overtime when Wheaton freshman Kent Raymond drained a three-pointer to give the hosts an 87-84 lead that increased to 89-84 on a layup by Tony Bollier with 16-seconds left in overtime. Two free throws by Bollier with three-seconds left in overtime secured the win for the Thunder.
Steven scored a career-high 27 points, with five field goals from three-point range and five rebounds. Nielson scored 18 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Raymond scored a career-high 17 points on 7-12 shooting from the field with a trio of three-point field goals, three assists and two steals. Senior forward Martin Trimiew was the fourth Thunder starter to score in double digits with 12 points on 5-7 shooting from the field with five assists and three steals. Fortosis had a nice game with a career-high nine rebound, six points and four assists.
Five players tallied double-digit point totals for Calvin. Draayer came off of the Knights’ bench to scored 26 points on 9-14 shooting from the field, including 8-12 from three-point range. Kyle Trewhella shot 6-9 from the field to score 18 points with four assists. Dan Aultman scored 14 points, Joel Hoekstra scored 12 points and Ricky Shilts added 10 points with six rebounds and five assists.
Wheaton shot a 47.1% (33-70) field goal percentage, with 45.5% (10-22) from three-point range and 71.4% (15-21) from the free throw line. Calvin shot 55.2% (32-58) from the field, with 72.2% (13-18) from three-point range and 58.8% (10-17) from the free throw line. Wheaton out-rebounded the Knights 40-30, with a 15-5 edge on the offensive glass that helped the Thunder to a 13-4 edge in second chance points.
Carthage’s Kevin Menard led his team with 16 points, six rebounds and seven rebounds in a 70-65 Redmen win over Hope in the opening game. Mark Morrison added 14 points and Trey Bowens scored 13 points for the Redmen. Stephen Cramer led Hope with 19 points, Jeff Carlson scored 11 points and Scott Richardson added nine points with 11 rebounds. Carthage shot 41.4% (24-58) from the field, 46.2% (12-26) from three-point range and 83.3% (10-12) from the free throw line. Hope shot 40% (24-60) from the field, 33.3% (7-21) from three-point range and 76.9% (10-13) the free throw line.