WORCESTER, MA- The Wheaton College men's basketball team trailed host Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) by just six points with less than four minutes to play before succumbing to the Engineers, 77-58 during Wednesday night's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener in Harrington Auditorium.
The Lyons, who hadn't lost a game since December 7, had their four-game winning streak snapped in falling to 4-7. The Engineers improved to 10-3.
Senior Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) led the Blue and White with a game-high-tying 18 points, shooting 7-of-14 from the floor, with three assists and a trio of steals. Sophomore Mike Hall (Lynnfield, MA/Saint John's Prep) recorded a career-high 10 points.
Junior Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, RI/Bishop Hendricken) contributed nine points and three assists, while juniors Shawn Daily (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) and Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, MA/Worcester Academy) grabbed eight boards each.
Wheaton committed a season-low-tying 10 turnovers but shot 39.3 percent overall, including going just 3-of-17 from the three-point stripe. WPI turned the ball over just seven times and went 11-of-21 from deep. The Engineers also made 82.4 percent of their shots from the charity stripe.
WPI had five players score in double figures, led by senior Jeffrey Robinson's (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) 18 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Classmate Kyle Nadeau (Webster, MA/Bartlett) tallied 13 points, junior Matt Carr (Somersworth, NH/Saint Thomas Aquinas) notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, while two others had 10 markers.
In a first half that saw seven lead changes and three ties, neither team held more than a six-point edge until the hosts turned a 26-25 edge at 3:58 into a 33-25 advantage with 48 ticks on the clock. Coppola knocked down a three to bring Wheaton within five before WPI answered with a bucket in the waning seconds for a 35-28 lead entering the intermission.
The Engineers quickly jumped out to a 41-28 lead just 1:37 into the second frame and led 48-36 at 15:08 before the Lyons battled back. A 7-0 Wheaton run made the score 48-43 midway through the half. With the Blue and White trailing 51-46 at 9:13, WPI drained back-to-back triples 39 seconds apart to push its advantage back to double figures. The Lyons twice cut the margin to six, including at 60-54 with 3:44 left, only to see the Engineers end the contest on a 17-4 spurt.
Wheaton returns to Worcester on Saturday to finish its six-game road swing at league foe Clark University at 3:00 p.m.