NORTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College men's basketball team never led during its 79-61 loss to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday afternoon at Emerson Gymnasium.

The Lyons drop their third straight in slipping to 6-10 overall and 2-4 at the halfway point of their league slate, while the Engineers won their third straight to improve to 13-5 and 3-2.

Senior Anthony Coppola (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) led Wheaton in scoring for the seventh straight game, pouring in 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting.  He had 19 points by halftime.  Junior Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) added 12 points, while freshman Brian Grossman (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) matched a season best with nine.

MIT sophomore Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, N.J./Phillips Exeter Academy) turned in an impressive shooting performance, going 11-of-15 overall, 4-of-6 from three-point territory and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe for a game-best 34 points.  He also had a game-high five assists.  Classmate Will Tashman (Atherton, Calif./Menlo School) added 14 points, seven boards and four assists.

Fouls were ramped, as the teams combined for 44 free-throw attempts and 42 fouls.  The hosts went 19-of-25 from the charity stripe, while the Engineers made 18 of their 21 tries.  MIT also held a 31-21 rebounding advantage while shooting 52 percent from the floor.  Wheaton shot 45.2 percent but just 36.4 percent in the second half.

MIT jumped out to 6-0 and 8-2 leads before the Lyons answered with nine straight points to force an 11-all tie at 16:08 of the opening half.  Coppola single-handedly kept the Blue and White close, scoring 11 of Wheaton's initial 15 points, as the hosts trailed 18-15 at 13:31.  The Engineers took over from there, using a 19-4 run to balloon their advantage to 37-19 at 7:42.  MIT led by as many as 19 before carrying a comfortable 48-34 cushion into the locker room.

A Grossman triple at 14:13 of the second half kept the Lyons in striking distance, down 54-42, but Kates scored nine of the game's next 10 points to give his team a 63-43 lead with 11:45 remaining.  Wheaton got as close as 67-54 with less than eight minutes to play before MIT put the contest out of reach with 10 unanswered points for a 77-54 bulge at the 3:55 mark.

The Lyons break from league play on Tuesday when they travel to Medford to take on Tufts University at 7:00 p.m.