CAMBRIDGE, MA - Senior Daniel Main (Hopedale, MA/Hopedale) netted 23 points, helping the Wheelock College men's basketball team down Lesley University, 78-70, during New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) play on Tuesday evening in Buckingham Browne & Nichols' Nicholas Athletic Center. The Wildcats won for the third time in four outings, moving to 7-9 overall and 3-3 in the league. The Lynx slipped to 3-14 and 0-6.
Main's game-high point total came on 7-of-12 shooting, as well as a 7-for-8 free-throw performance. With 255 career freebies, he bested Sherard Robbins' '10 school record of 250. Junior Kyle Pierce (Burlington, MA/Burlington) notched a well-rounded 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, as he shot 5-for-6 overall and 6-of-8 at the charity stripe.
Junior Max Kaim (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Cypress Bay) added 13 points and three helpers, junior Eric Rice (Woburn, MA/Woburn) had nine points, three assists and three blocks, while classmate Victor Kashouh (Providence, RI/Classical) hauled down a game- and career-high 11 rebounds. Wheelock went 25-for-34 on free throws while shooting 45.5 percent from the field, including 62.9 percent from two-point range.
Junior John Sanchez (Carson, CA/Saint John Bosco) notched 19 points and nine assists - all but two of each after halftime - to lead the hosts, while senior Thorton Paul (Boston, MA/West Roxbury) added 11 points. Freshman Christian Fuentes (Chatsworth, CA/Chaminade Prep) turned in 10 points off the bench, as the Lynx used 10 reserves.
Wheelock erased an early 7-5 deficit with a 14-0 run, as Pierce played a role in the first nine points. Hudson scored five points during run, which put the visitors ahead by a 19-7 count at 11:26 of the opening half. Lesley tallied the next seven points, twice trailing by just five points prior to the Wildcats carrying a 29-22 lead into the locker room.
After the teams combined for a 28.6-percent shooting display in the opening half, they combined to knock down 54.4 percent of their shots in the second stanza, including Wheelock going 14-of-23 for a 60.9-percent clip. The visitors were also 19-for-24 on freebies in the period.
Lesley made it a 29-26 contest at the 17:35 mark, but the Wildcats again attempted to pull away, countering with nine straight points, the first six of which came from Kaim. Wheelock never led by more than 13 or fewer than six the rest of the way in addition to meeting each Lynx charge during the waning minute of regulation, as both squads scored nine points in the final 54 seconds. Each of Wheelock's points in that time came on free throws, as it made nine of its final 11 tries.
The Wildcats open up a four-game home stand on Thursday when they take on two-time defending NECC Tournament champion Elms College at 5 p.m. The Blazers also won last year's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament.