WORCESTER, MA- The Wheaton College men's basketball team succumbed to a strong shooting performance by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) during a 93-61 loss on Saturday in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play in Harrington Auditorium. The Lyons slipped to 7-14 overall and 3-6 in the league while remaining in fifth place, and the Engineers improved to 15-5 and 4-4.

Lyon junior Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) finished with 18 points, going 7-of-9 on free-throw tries, while senior Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA/New Hampton School) added 15, shooting 5-of-6 from the floor. Wheaton was hurt by a 38.8-percent shooting performance, as well as a 19-of-30 showing from the charity stripe.

Meanwhile, WPI shot 60 percent, including 9-of-22 from three-point range. Junior Jeffrey Robinson (Granby, CT/Granby Memorial) tallied 26 points, including 21 in the opening stanza, while sophomore Fernando Perez (Lowell, MA/Lowell) and junior Kyle Nadeau (Webster, MA/Bartlett) added 16 and 13 points, respectively. Sophomore Matt Carr (Somersworth, NH/Saint Thomas Aquinas) turned in 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Coppola canned a three after just 20 seconds in sparking Wheaton to an early 9-5 edge, and Leo tallied five straight points to bring the Lyons from behind and stake them to a 14-10 lead at 14:59 of the opening stanza. WPI took over from that point, tallying 33 of the next 40 points by 2:05. The Engineers headed into the locker room with a 43-26 advantage thanks to 62.1-percent shooting in the opening half, including a 6-of-13 showing from three.

The Lyons yielded the first six points of the second stanza and never again came closer than 17 points, which was the margin Coppola created by hitting a jumper at 12:54 to make it 56-39. WPI finished with 50 second-half points, shooting 58.1 percent.

Wheaton caps a three-game road trip on Wednesday by heading to Babson College for an 8:00 p.m. NEWMAC contest.