Wheaton stays calm, catches Elmhurst

Jake Carwell looked in the eyes of his Wheaton College teammates and saw nothing.

Nothing, as in no panic, no distress. Just friends playing a basketball game.

That eerie sense of calm, even when the Thunder trailed by 12 midway through the second half, helped Wheaton overcome Elmhurst for the CCIW tournament championship 67-63 Saturday night in Wheaton.

"The biggest thing about our team is the composure that we have at all times," said Carwell, a junior from Villa Park. "I mean, we got down 11, called a timeout, and you could see it in our eyes. No one was freaking out. We knew what we had to do."

"Last year we went to the Elite Eight and played in overtime," Wheaton coach Bill Harris added. "... These are kids that have been through those kind of wars. When you get within a couple of minutes of the Final Four (in 2008) and have been here before, you know what you're capable of doing."

Carwell only scored 7 points, but they came at important moments for the Thunder (24-3). After stealing the ball near midcourt, Carwell was fouled going in for a breakaway layup with 2:11 remaining. He made both free throws, giving Wheaton its first lead since 2-0.

"Elmhurst played wonderfully that first half," Harris said. "Then when we came back to within 1, they stretched out to 8 again. They're a wonderful basketball team. Our kids showed the poise that they needed to show."

The next score from either team came with 40.5 seconds to go, when Carwell jammed home a bounce pass from Ben Panner, making the Wheaton lead 61-58. They made 6 of 6 free throws the rest of the way to clinch the win.

"I thought we showed a lot of poise in a great basketball environment," Bluejays coach Mark Scherer said. "It really came down to a couple of shots didn't fall for us and a couple did for Wheaton.

"They're a great team. I think Wheaton is a Final Four team. If they lose before the Final Four it might be to a Division III champion."

The league tourney title means Wheaton will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Division III tournament next weekend. Elmhurst (20-7) hopes to make travel plans when the NCAA announces the tourney pairings Monday morning.

All-America guard Kent Raymond led Wheaton with 24 points. Andy Wiele scored 18 in the low post, and Panner added 15.

Brent Ruch's 19 points led Elmhurst, which also got 13 from Robert Strzemp.