“We were outrebounded badly in the first half,” said Warriors Head coach Jordon Roos. “Matt Thielen was hot scoring 17 in the first half and kept us in the game as other guys struggled. We came out with more fire and rebounded better, not great, but better in the second half. Matt became a distributor and team scored 40 in the second half with Matt only scoring 6. Guys executed well at the end and only gave up 2 points in the last 4 minutes to get the win.”

Thielen finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals to lead the Warriors. Nick Lupkes, Michael Franzese and Zach Stueve had 10 points apiece. Wheaton shot 43% (24-56) from the floor.

Underwood held a 48-38 edge on the boards, however, the Rockets made only 30% (20-67) of their shots from the floor. The Rockets were led by 16 points from Krosby Aasness. Canaan Kugler and Winston Heifort contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"We played a solid first half on both ends of the court, but our second half defense lapsed and we came out too flat and let Wheaton take the lead and then we couldn't overcome it,” commented Underwood Head coach Evan Meece.  “We need to be able to play a full 36 minutes with the same intensity throughout the entire game."

Underwood (2-13) will host Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on Tuesday night and will play at Rothsay on Friday.