Springfield, Mass. - January 11, 2020 - The Springfield College men's basketball team cruised to a 73-60 victory over Wheaton in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday in Blake Arena.
The Pride, which was ranked No. 25 in the most recent D3hoops.com National Poll, improve to 11-2, 2-0 in conference play with the win. Wheaton slipped to 5-7, 0-2.
Springfield was paced by the senior trio of Heath Post (Cheshire, Conn.), Jake Ross (Northampton, Mass.), and Trey Witter (Unionville, Conn.) as they combined for 53 points in the win. Post led all players with 22 points and nine rebounds, Ross added 16 points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, and Witter came off teh bench for 15 points. Springfield shot 26-for-65 (40%) for the game and owned a 45-32 advantage on the glass.
For Wheaton, Alex Carlisle netted 19 points and handed out six assists, while Noah Sochaczevski added 12 points. The Lyons outscored the Pride by a 40-20 margin in the paint, but allowed Springfield to snag 19 offensive boards that translated into 23 second-chance points.
Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) drilled a corner three just over five minutes into the game to give the Pride an early 9-2 edge as the Lyons called for a timeout. Springfield would be in complete control of the opening 20 minutes, not allowing visitors closer than 10 points. The Pride's lead grew to 14 on a pair of occassions, the last coming at 34-20 when Witter cashed in on three from the charity strip with just over two minutes to play.
Ross put back his own miss at 17:33 as the Pride opened up a 40-24 advantage and Noah Cummings (Epsom, N.H.) would finish in transition off a great look from Witter at 15:48 to force Wheaton into a timeout trailing 46-28. A four-point play from Witter at the 12:13 mark lifted the Pride's lead to 56-34. The Lyons would chip away at the lead behind the play of Carlisle, as his two free throws made it a 64-55 game with 3:58 left in regtulation. However, Witter answered with a deep triple to push the lead back to 12 to quiet the comeback and Springfield would pull away for the 13-point win.
Springfield will continue conference play next Wednesday when it hosts Clark at 5:30 pm.
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