East Texans Aston Francis (left), of Tyler, and Trevor Gunter, of Flint, are headed to the NCAA Division III Final Four. The two are senior basketball players for Wheaton College, just outside of Chicago.Wheaton College/Photo

A couple of Rose City area basketball products are making the Windy City happy.

Tyler’s Aston Francis and Flint’s Trevor Gunter, who play for Wheaton College just outside of Chicago, are headed to the NCAA Division III Final Four.

Francis, who was a star at All Saints Episcopal School, had a career night with a D-III tournament record 62 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute to carry the Thunder to a 91-87 victory over No. 22 Marietta (Ohio) College in the national quarterfinals on Saturday in Rock Island, Illinois.

Wheaton is in the Final Four for the first time since 1960 after rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit against the Pioneers. The Final Four is scheduled for March 15-16 at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Along with Francis, Gunter, a former standout at Grace Community School, sees valuable minutes for the Thunder.

Wheaton’s national semifinal game will be a rematch of the Lee Pfund Classic Championship game, with the Thunder facing Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Francis scored 45 points in leading the Thunder over the Titans, 86-74, in November on the Wheaton College campus. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 15.

The other semifinal pits Christopher Newport (Virginia) against Swarthmore (Pennsylvania) at 5 p.m. 

The championship game will match the semifinal winners on March 16. Tipoff is set for 10 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBSSN.

Wheaton coach Mike Schauer praised the performance of Francis.

“Two things about Aston,” Schauer said. “People don’t see the amount of work that he puts in. I see it and it is ridiculous, it is an immense amount of work. He told me after the game that he missed a similar shot, to the two he made at the end of the game, against Augustana at our place. He practiced it hundreds of times so that the next time he had it, he would make it. That is a lot of work.”

In the first five minutes of the game, Francis scored 17 of the Thunder’s 20 points against Marietta.

In the second half, Marietta led 60-46 before the Thunder comeback.

With 44 seconds on the clock, the Pioneers were on top 85-83.

Francis drained a step-back 3-pointer with 33 seconds showing to give Wheaton an 86-85 advantage. The trey gave the senior 59 points in the game as he tied Ben Strong’s Division III Tournament scoring record in the process. Strong attended Guilford College in North Carolina and set the mark of 59 in a triple-overtime win over Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in March 2007.

Marietta’s Lukas Isaly scored a layup on his team’s next possession to give the Pioneers an 87-86 lead with 24 seconds showing. Francis again made a step-back 3-pointer with 15 seconds showing in the game to give Wheaton a two-point advantage at 89-87.

That was Francis’ 62nd point to break the D-III record.

Isaly attempted another layup on Marietta’s next possession, but Anajuwon Spencer blocked the shot and Nyameye Adom collected the rebound with three seconds remaining. Adom was fouled and made both free throws to secure Wheaton’s victory and its first NCAA Division III Final Four appearance. 

Francis has made 168 three-pointers this season, the second-highest single-season total in Division III history. With his 62 points, Francis moved past Kent Raymond into second place on Wheaton’s career scoring list and fifth place on the CCIW career scoring ranks with 2,352 career points. He also has 383 career 3-pointers, the seventh-highest mark in Division III history.

In the regional semifinal, Francis scored 33 points as the Thunder won over rival Augustana (Illinois) 93-79 on Friday. Wheaton had lost twice to the Vikings during the regular season.