NORTON, Mass. – The fifth-seeded Clark University men's basketball team erased a 13-point deficit with nine-plus minutes to play and came away with a 73-71 victory over host number four seed Wheaton College (Mass.) in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Tournament opening round at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Cougars improve to 15-11 and advance to play nationally-ranked No. 21 and tournament top-seeded Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the NEWMAC Semifinals. Clark punches a ticket to the semifinal round for the first time since February 24, 2010 when it upset the Lyons 58-55 in Norton and went on to win the NEWMAC Championship with back-to-back road victories, including a win over WPI in the title contest.
Wheaton finishes its season at 13-12.
Sophomore forward Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, Mass.) led the Cougars with 14 points on 6-10 from the floor and added nine rebounds, two assists and a steal while junior guard Mikey O'Brien (New York, N.Y.) netted 13 points to go with five boards, two assists and a steal. Sophomore guard Ian Calabrese (Simsbury, Conn.) came off the bench to score all 12 of his points during the pivotal stretch that gave Clark the lead for good in the second half. He knocked down a trio of three-pointers and added a steal in 16 minutes of play. Junior guard Bruce Saintilus (Plainville, Mass.) contributed with 12 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists.
The Lyons were led by senior forward Aaron Williams (Springfield, Mass.) with a game-high 27 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and a steal. Williams broke the school record for free throws made in a season with his 150th make coming at the 6:23 mark of the second half. He finishes his career with 300 to rank eighth all-time at Wheaton. The forward also finishes with 1166 career points to sit 11th on the Lyons leaderboard with 508 coming this season to rank as the seventh-most in a season at Wheaton. He also pulled down the seventh-most rebounds in a season with 221 and completed his tenure with 497 to place him eighth for the Lyons in a career. His 38 blocks for the season put him seventh, while his 57 career rejections tie him for 10th. Senior Alex Carlisle (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) scored 23 points on 9-16 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in addition to two steals and a pair of assists. The guard closes out his career with 1,245 points to finish his time in Norton ranking ninth on the all-time scoring list, while ranking as the most accurate free throw shooter in school history with a 84.1% (244-290) mark. His 225 career assists put him seventh all-time for the Lyons, while his 92 helpers this season were the ninth-most in a season. The Vermont native also finishes his tenure with a 47.1% (463-982) field goal percentage to rank ninth in school history. Senior guard Evan Cook (Dunstable, Mass.) chipped in with 13 points on 5-8 from the field, including 3-4 from three-point range and added four rebounds and an assist.
Williams made a layup with 9:35 to play in the game to give Wheaton a 58-45 lead, before the Cougars made their comeback behind Calabrese. Clark put together a 23-4 run over a span of 4:38, fueled by 12 points from Calabrese, to take a 68-62 lead with 4:57 showing on the second half clock.
Saintilus made a driving layup to bump the Cougars' margin to 73-66 with 1:50 to play in the game for the visitors' last points of the night. The Lyons looked to erase the deficit and almost did with a three-pointer from Cook at 1:29 and a driving layup from Carlisle with 42 ticks to go in the contest to pull the home team to within 73-71.
Clark missed a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left in the game, but Wheaton was unable to connect on a last second heave and the Cougars hung on for the win.
The Lyons scored six of the first eight points, capped by a three-pointer from Williams to take an early 6-2 lead before Clark countered with six unanswered points to take an 8-6 lead advantage with 16:01 to go in the opening half.
Wheaton went on an 11-4 spurt, paced by a pair of trifectas from Cook, to take a 17-12 lead with 11:33 left in the half. Keeping with the theme of the first two meetings between the schools, the Cougars came right back with six straight points to take an 18-17 edge at 9:55 of the first period.
The Lyons looked to create some separation with another 11-4 stretch to reclaim the lead at 28-22 with 4:27 to go, before Clark pulled to within one on a layup from Saintilus to cap a 5-0 burst and make it 28-27 with 2:12 showing in the half. The Cougars looked to tie the tilt before the end of the half, but Williams came up with a steal and first year guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) finished the play with a layup on the other end as time expired to give Wheaton a 33-29 halftime lead.
The Lyons started the second half strong with a 16-7 run, led by nine points from Williams, to take a 49-36 cushion for their largest lead of the evening at the 15:44 mark of the second stanza. Clark ripped off seven straight points to close to within 49-43, before Wheaton pushed its lead back to 13.