travis, chase
Ricky Esparza

Men's Basketball Morgan Vogels

Men's Basketball Escapes Wheaton with Win Despite Late Surge by Thunder

Box Score The Big Blue men's basketball team traveled to Wheaton, Ill. on Wednesday, January 22 for a College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin matchup with the Thunder of Wheaton College. Millikin escaped with a 76-73 lead after Wheaton chipped away at the deficit late. With the win, the Big Blue move to 4-4 in CCIW play, while the Thunder end the first half of the conference slate 0-8. 

Chase Travis was the leading scorer for the Big Blue with 16. Lane Thomann and Drake Stevenson each added 15 apiece, and Stevenson was the leading rebounder with six. 

The Big Blue shot 15-for-33 for a 45% shooting percentage in the first half to head to the locker room with a 33-26 lead. They shot 64% in the second half to outshoot Wheaton 53.1% to 48.1%. 

Millikin held the lead from the first bucket by Thomann just 18 seconds into the game on. The Big Blue extended their lead to 12 with 3:20 remaining in the game on a layup by Thomann, but back-to-back threes by Kyle Neibch and Soren Richardson cut the lead to six, 72-66. After trading buckets, Wheaton's Richardson was fouled behind the three point line, making all three free throws with 1:07 left to tick. Richardson's layup with :25 seconds left left Millikin up just 74-73 after holding the 12 point lead just two minutes prior. Stevenson sunk two free throws to extend the lead to three, and the Thunder's last second three point attempt by Devin Martin fell short to help the Big Blue come away with the victory.

Wheaton was led by Richardson, who shot 11-for-18 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line to tally 32 points. Neibch chipped in 19 points.

The Big Blue will enter the second half of conference play on Saturday, January 25 at the Griswold Center looking to avenge an early season loss against the Vikings of North Park University with tipoff set for 4:15 PM.
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Players Mentioned

Drake Stevenson

#10 Drake Stevenson

F
6' 6"
Senior
Chase Travis

#24 Chase Travis

G
6' 5"
Junior
Lane Thomann

#7 Lane Thomann

G
6' 4"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Drake Stevenson

#10 Drake Stevenson

6' 6"
Senior
F
Chase Travis

#24 Chase Travis

6' 5"
Junior
G
Lane Thomann

#7 Lane Thomann

6' 4"
Sophomore
G