CHESTNUT HILL, MA - Three players scored at least 17 points, senior Patsy DiNuzzo (Beaver, PA/Beaver) hit his 100th career three-pointer, and the Wheelock College men's basketball team knocked off Mitchell College, 80-66, on Saturday in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) contest on Pine Manor College's Brunelli Court. Behind their fourth win in six games, the Wildcats moved to 8-10 overall and 4-4 in the league, while the Mariners are now 1-17 and 0-9. Wheelock has won six straight meetings with Mitchell.
Junior Max Kaim (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Cypress Bay) netted a season-high 20 points for the hosts, shooting 9-of-11 from the floor, while classmate Eric Rice (Woburn, MA/Woburn) had 18 points and eight rebounds. Senior Daniel Main (Hopedale, MA/Hopedale) notched 17 points, going 9-for-10 on free-throw tries, while DiNuzzo canned a trio of threes en route to scoring nine points and joining Main as the lone players in program history with 100 treys.
Junior Kyle Pierce (Burlington, MA/Burlington) added a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with seven points and three assists, while classmate Victor Kashouh (Providence, RI/Classical) had nine boards, four helpers and three steals. The Wildcats held a 48-32 rebounding edge, outscored the Mariners 48-28 in the paint and committed just six turnovers.
Junior Paul Jefferson (Waterbury, CT/Waterbury Arts Magnet School) knocked down four three-pointers while netting 16 points for Mitchell, and freshman Tim Quinn (Vernon, CT/Rockville) collected 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Junior Julio Contreras (Boca Baton, FL/West Boca Raton) chipped in with nine points and three helpers, and classmate Alex Vess (Middletown, CT/Xavier) hauled in seven rebounds. The Mariners also took care of the ball, committing 10 giveaways.
Rice's bucket 34 seconds into the game gave Wheelock the lead for good, but the visitors never trailed by more than six points until DiNuzzo nailed his first three at 8:56, providing a 19-12 cushion. Forty seconds later he countered a Mitchell triple, as his 100th three-pointer made it 22-15 at 8:16. Four straight points from Main later put the Wildcats ahead by 10, at 27-17 by 6:09, and the Mariners drew within five before Wheelock went back up by double digits. The hosts carried a 35-25 advantage into the locker room, thanks in large part to Rice's 14 points.
A Main three-point play early in the second stanza gave his team a 13-point advantage, but Mitchell went on a 12-4 run behind scoring from three players to draw within 42-37 at 14:52. Wheelock regrouped with a 9-1 outburst, as Pierce provided five points and an assist, and Kashouh picked off a pass and went in for a break-away dunk. DiNuzzo's third three-pointer gave the Wildcats a 54-40 lead at 10:29. Jefferson knocked down a pair of long-range shots during an ensuing 10-2 Mitchell run, but Kaim's two freebies at 8:18 put Wheelock up by a 58-50 count, and it led by at least eight the rest of the way.
Wheelock continues its four-game home stand on Thursday when the Wildcats oppose Lesley University on Brunelli Court at 7:30 p.m.