Cannon and Dale post double-digit efforts

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's basketball team was dealt a 75-57 setback by MIT on Wednesday night at the Rockwell Cage in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action.

Freshman forward Quinton Dale (Winthrop, Mass./Taft School) tallied 12 points (6-for-8 FT) and two rebounds, while junior forward Mike Cannon (New York, N.Y./Hyde School) registered ten points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist to guide the Lyons offensively. Senior guard Will Bayliss (Manchester, N.H./Tilton School) contributed eight points and three rebounds. Sophomore guard Billy Battaglia (Simsbury, Conn./Taft School) chipped in with six points and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench.

MIT junior forward Matt Redfield (Los Altos, Calif./Gunn) posted a double-double with 23 points (9-for-11 FG) and ten rebounds to go along with three blocks and two assists. Classmate Andrew Acker (Merion Station, Pa./The Haverford School) collected 22 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Both juniors played all 40 minutes in the contest. Sophomore forward Justin Pedley (Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin) added 13 points, two boards and a pair of steals in the win.

Wheaton got off to a solid start in the contest as it pushed out to a 10-5 lead five minutes in on a trey by Cannon. The Lyons made it a six-point advantage at 14-8 (13:54) after a jumper from Battaglia, but a jumper by Redfield started MIT on a 9-0 run to answer. Pedley connected on a three-pointer during the stretch that gave the Engineers their first lead of the game, and Redfield finished the run with a layup to put MIT on top, 17-14, with 10:40 left in the half.

From there it remained tight as neither squad produced more than a two-point advantage until the final minute of the half. After Redfield's basket there were eight lead changes and three ties over the final ten minutes of play. Freshman Ageyi Gregory (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) put Wheaton ahead, 29-28, with 1:34 left with a lay in, but MIT came back with five-straight points to take a four-point advantage with 39-seconds to play. The Lyons made it a two-point game at the half when Bayliss hit a base-line jumper with two ticks left to make it 33-31 at the half. Gregory ended the night with five points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Blue and White.

Dale tied things up at the start of the second half with a layup a minute in, and then put Wheaton back on top with a free throw just under a minute later. It proved to be the last lead for the Lyons in the game, however, as Pedley hit a three at the 17:34 mark that put MIT up 36-34.

With 15:00 minutes left, a lay in by freshman Alex Sugarman (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle) had the Lyons within one at 39-38, but Acker grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back in to start a 12-2 run by MIT over the next three minutes that put the Engineers ahead 51-40 punctuated by a slam from Redfield with 11:29 to go. With 7:28 left, Wheaton closed to within six on a Cannon jumper at the 6:18 mark, but the Lyons were held to just five points the rest of the way as MIT pulled away down the stretch for the victory. MIT shot 56.5 percent in the second half and 52.2 percent for the game while holding Wheaton to 40.4 percent shooting.

Wheaton (7-9, 2-5 NEWMAC) will play next on Sunday when it hosts Coast Guard at 1:00 p.m. MIT (14-4, 5-2 NEWMAC) will be on the road for its next game, traveling to Clark University on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. game with the Cougars.

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