CAMBRIDGE, MA- Wheaton College men's basketball senior Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) made program history on Wednesday by scoring a career-high 41 points while nipping an 18-year-old school record during his team's 80-72 win at New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Rockwell Cage.
Keeping its league tournament playoff hopes alive, Wheaton, which is now 8-15 overall and 3-8 in league play, needs a win over the United States Coast Guard Academy on Saturday coupled with a Clark University loss to first-place Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). MIT is now 16-8 and 6-5.
Coppola, who broke Will Hawkins' '93 40-point mark set on December 8, 1992, put his team on his back with 30 of the Lyons' 45 second-half points. His offensive explosion consisted of amassing 13 field goals and a career-high-tying 12 free throws. Coppola shot 13-of-17 from the field and 12-of-13 at the charity stripe. He also drained all three three-point attempts while recording a career-high-tying six steals.
Wheaton junior Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, RI/Bishop Hendricken) chipped in with 13 points, freshman Brian Grossman (Duxbury, MA/Duxbury) added 10 points off the bench, while junior Shawn Daily (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) pulled down eight rebounds.
Three MIT players combined for 53 points, with sophomore Will Tashman (Atherton, CA/Menlo School) notching 24 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and three assists. Junior Jamie Karraker (Morgantown, WV/Phillips Exeter Academy) hit five threes for 15 markers, while sophomore Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, NJ/Phillips Exeter Academy) added 14 points and six assists.
Being on the short end of a 39-29 rebounding margin, Wheaton made up for it by shooting 50 percent from the field, 41.2 percent beyond the three-point stripe and 80.8 percent from the free throw line. The Lyons made 21-of-26 from the charity stripe during a game that featured nine ties and eight lead changes. MIT shot 45.2 percent overall but just 22.7 percent from three-point land, converting just five of its 22 attempts.
With the halftime score knotted at 35, Coppola set the stage early in the second frame with a triple 48 seconds in. The hosts responded with a 16-7 run for a 51-45 edge at 13:09. Wheaton answered by scoring 10 of the game's next 11 points for a 55-52 edge with 10:58 to go. With the Lyons clinging to a one-point lead at 8:41, neither team scored for over two minutes, as Coppola's traditional three-point play made the score 66-62.
Knotted at 66, Wheaton put the game away with a 9-0 run over 3:02, including six straight Coppola points in the same stretch. During a Coppola breakaway lay-up, officials called an intentional foul on the Engineers, giving the Lyons two free throws and possession. Coppola knocked down the two freebies before laying in his fifth and sixth points in a second's time for a 75-66 advantage with 1:28 left.
In the opening half, MIT held a pair of six-point leads before Wheaton turned a 10-4 deficit into a 17-10 advantage at 12:17. The Blue and White eventually extended its lead out to nine points two times, including holding a 32-23 edge at 4:31. The hosts scored 12 of the half's final 15 points to forge the tie.
Wheaton's 1:00 p.m. game against Coast Guard on Saturday will mark Senior Day for Coppola.