WORCESTER, MA- Despite Wednesday night's 85-68 setback to New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) leader Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Harrington Auditorium, the Wheaton College men's basketball team retained sole possession of third place heading into Saturday's regular season finale.

The Lyons, who have dropped three straight league games to fall to 13-11 overall and 5-6 in the NEWMAC, need to defeat visiting Clark University on Saturday to clinch the third seed and a home first-round game for the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament.  Saturday's game, which will also be Senior Day for five outgoing players, is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.  WPI, which is receiving votes in the D3hoops.com national poll, won for the 11th time in 12 games to improve to 19-4 and 10-1.

Sophomore Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) was the game's high scorer with 23 points, going 8-of-13 from the field, 2-of-3 beyond the three-point arc and 5-of-5 at the free throw line.  With 952 career points in just 49 games, Coppola is attempting to become the first Lyon to reach the 1,000-point milestone as a sophomore.  Freshman Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, MA/Worcester Academy) contributed 15 points, including a 3-of-4 showing on threes.

Wheaton hung tough throughout the entire opening half, as the teams battled through seven ties and five lead changes, with WPI ultimately taking a 41-36 edge into the locker room.  Neither squad gained an advantage of more than three points until the hosts nailed a three to go up 13-8 at the 12:54 mark, which was part of a 7-0 run that gave the Engineers a 15-8 lead approaching the midway point.

Coppola knocked down a three and then converted a traditional three-point play on a tip off his own miss during a 38-second span to bring the Lyons within one at the 10:14 mark of the first frame.  After WPI pushed its lead back out to five points three times, a personal 5-0 Coppola run forced the game's third tie at 26-all with less than five minutes to go.

Junior Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA/New Hampton School) assisted go-ahead threes by sophomore Ryan Sasso (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick) at 2:59 and senior Mark Sullivan (West Roxbury, MA/Catholic Memorial) with 2:32 left, which gave the Lyons their last lead at 34-32.  WPI made four of its final five shots in closing the half on a 9-2 run, including nailing a shot from deep at the buzzer.

Coppola helped narrow Wheaton's deficit to three twice early in the second half, and the Lyons stayed within striking distance until the final seven minutes.  A Leo trey at 7:49 left Wheaton trailing 63-56 before the hosts used an 11-2 spurt over 2:17 for a commanding 74-58 advantage with 4:53 to go.  Following a Sullivan bucket 16 seconds later, the Engineers went on a 9-2 run to put the game away.

Senior Jerome Kirkland (Boston, MA/John D. O'Bryant) paced WPI with 21 points, classmate Adam Lirette (Dover, NH/Dover) contributed 16 points and six assists, while sophomore Jeffrey Robinson (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) accounted for 14 points.