San Antonio, Texas – The Wheaton Thunder men's basketball team returned to action on Wednesday afternoon with a 60-50 victory against Whitman College (7-3) at the Trinity University National Invitational. Wheaton (8-2) will close out its participation in the tournament, and its non-conference schedule, on Thursday at 3 PM against Pacific Lutheran University.

In a choppy game that saw strong spurts by both teams, The Thunder jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the first seven minutes of the game. Whitman rallied to tie the game at 20-20 with seven minutes left in the first half. Wheaton then responded with nine un-answered points to give the Thunder a 29-20 lead with 3:30 minutes left in the first half. Wheaton led the Missionaries 34-27 at halftime.

Thunder forward Spencer Schultze scored the first basket of the second half to extend Wheaton's advantage to 36-27, however, Whitman responded with 13 unanswered points to take a 40-36 lead with 11:50 left in the game. The Wheaton defense held Whitman to just 10 points over the final 11:50 of the game.  The score was tied at 46-46 with six minutes left when a basket Schultze gave the Thunder a 48-46 lead that the 'Orange and Blue' would maintain for the rest of the game. Wheaton out-scored the Missionaries 14-4 over the final six minutes.

Schultze shot 4-for-6 from the field as he scored a team-high 11 points and added eight rebounds. Forward Tim McCrary scored 10 points, with five rebounds. Guards Tyler Peters and Jeremy Pflederer each scored nine points. Nathan Haynes contributed seven points and six rebounds in 18 minutes off the Thunder bench. Aaron Garriott scored six ponts, with six assists.

Josh Duckworth and David Michaels each scored 14 points to lead Whitman. LuQuam Thompson scored 12 points off the Whitman bench. Michaels was the Missionaries' leading rebounder wtih eight boards.

Wheaton shot a 46.8% (22-47) field goal percentage in the game, including 61.9% (13-21) in the first half. The Thunder shot 30.8% (4-13) from three-point range and made 60% (12-20) of its free throw attempts. Whitman shot 35.4% (17-48) from the field, with 18.8% (3-16) from three-point range and 59.1% (13-22) at the charity stripe. Wheaton out-rebounded the Missionaries 34-31, with Whitman holding a 13-11 edge on the offensive glass.  Whitman turned the ball over 18 times, helping the Thunder to a 19-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.