No. 20 Wheaton had a last-second 3-pointer hit off the rim as time expired as the Thunder fell to Division I Northwestern 41-39.
Wheaton cut the lead to two three times in the final five minutes of the game, including on preseason All-American Kent Raymond's layup with 37 seconds left. Johnnie Standard collected the rebound on the missed front end of a one-and-one, giving the Thunder a final possession.
"We could have gone for the tie if we got the foul because we were in the bonus, said Wheaton coach Bill Harris. "But I just thought, on the road, let's go for the win. I thought we'd get a good look and we did get a pretty good look. The ball just didn't go down."
Raymond led the Thunder with 17 points, the only scorer in double figures for Wheaton. The Thunder outrebounded Northwestern 36-19. "I am very pleased with how we played defensively. We worked really hard on denying back door cuts," Harris said. "I'm very pleased with the way they played throughout this game and obviously, we did a great job on the glass also. We just didn't quite get it done."
Penn State-Altoona continued Lincoln's woes, beating the No. 18 Lions 95-86 for what the school describes as the biggest win in its history. It's the second consecutive loss for Lincoln since the 201-78 win against Ohio State-Marion. Lincoln has North Central coming up the week before New Year's.
Colin Geiger scored 21, Quintin Dziabo chipped in 17, and Mike Dancer had 13 for Penn State-Altoona (2-7). Samie Wylie had just 10 points for Lincoln on 2-for-15 shooting. Lincoln was held to 1-for-19 from three-point range in the second half.