The Millikin Men’s Basketball team won against Wheaton College by 86-46 in Decatur, Illinois, at the Griswold Center on January 21. The Big Blue win against Wheaton was the first win since the 2000-2001 season, which broke Wheaton’s 25 winning game streak. Millikin opened the game with a 19-4 run starting with 5 three-pointers. Big Blue’s Tommy Pilackas tied the game up with 2-2 to get Millikin started. Big Blue began gaining threes from TJ Griffin, Pilackas, TJ Sims, and Jacob Kueker all connecting from long range to make it 17-4. Griffin scored a two pointer which was the close of the opening run. Big Blue shot 70 percent from the field in the first five minutes. Millikin University closed out the first half with an 11-0 run to make it 44-21 by halftime. Griffin had eight of Big Blue’s 11 points in the closing 3 minutes. Sims also scored 12 first half points. Big Blue shot 54 percent from the field with 61 percent in the second half. The Wheaton Thunder shot 33 percent from the field. Millikin University out rebounded Wheaton by 37-31.Wheaton had 20 turnovers while Millikin only had six. Millikin’s top scorer was Sims with 19 points, two steals, and four assists. Griffin finished the game with 16 points, five rebounds, four steals, and four assists. Pilackas gained 11 points and three assists for the team. Kueker had a team high of nine rebounds. Big Blue now advances to 7-10, 2-4 leaving Wheaton to fall to 8-9, 1-5.

Coming up: On Saturday January 24^th, Millikin will host Augustana College at 7 P.M.