Men’s basketball team comes up short at Wheaton, 92-81

WHEATON, Ill. – The Olivet College men's basketball team came up short against Wheaton (Ill.) College, 92-81, tonight inside King Arena in Wheaton, Illinois. The Thunder are receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.

Final Score: Wheaton 92, Olivet 81
Location: King Arena; Wheaton, Ill.
Records: Wheaton 7-2 overall, Olivet 2-4 overall

• The first half was back-and-forth, as neither team led by more than five points for the first 18 minutes. The Thunder took the largest lead for either team, 34-28, after Luke Peters made a free throw to complete a three-point play. Another three-point play pushed Wheaton's lead to nine points. A layup for the Comets made the score 40-32 at halftime.
• In the second half, the Thunder increased their advantage to 18 points, 66-48, at the 9:06 mark. Olivet closed the gap to 12 points, 72-60, with 6:28 left in the game. Wheaton scored the next eight points to gain its largest lead in the game at 20 points, 80-60. The Comets trimmed their deficit down to 10 points twice but would not get any closer for the rest of the game.

• Playing nearly every minute in the game, senior Tracy Edmond scored a team-high 20 points and dished out eight assists.
• Junior Trevor Manuel added 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
• Senior Dee Roberts contributed 13 points.

• Aston Francis nearly tallied a triple-double with 20 points, including 15 in the second half, eight rebounds and seven assists.
• Luke Peters was next with 18 points.
• Spencer Peterson and Nyameye Adom finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively.

• After playing its first six games on the road, Olivet hosts Thomas More (Ky.) University for its home-opener next Saturday, Dec. 15. Tip-off at the Cutler Event Center is 3 p.m.