BOSTON, Mass. - The Wheaton College men's basketball team improved to 3-1 on the season with a 52-48 win over Emerson College in non-conference action Tuesday night at Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym.

Senior Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, R.I./Bishop Hendricken) paced the Lyons with 12 points and added four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Junior Cliften Desravines (Somerville, Mass./Taft School) recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in 23 minutes while sophomore Brian Grossman (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) chipped in with nine points, five boards and a pair of helpers.

Wheaton shot just 20.0 percent (6-of-30) in the first half and trailed by five (23-18) after 20 minutes of action. Degnan, Desravines, and Grossman combined for 14 of the Lyons 18 first-half points. Senior Dan Bisaccio (Bennington, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) knocked down all three field goal attempts to lead Emerson with six points.

In the second half, Emerson pushed its lead to 10 points following a jumper by junior Bilali Kalilou-Mack (Windsor, Conn./Windsor) at 16:15. Four consecutive free throws by Wheaton freshman Eddie Capstick (Worcester, Mass./Marianapolis Prep) and another four points from junior Scott Faucher (Lebanon, N.H./Kimball Union) helped the Lyons cut the deficit to one (38-37) with 10:43 to go, and Wheaton took the lead one minute later on a layup by Grossman.

Over the next few minutes, the two schools traded the lead four times before Wheaton went ahead for good (49-47) on a layup by Degnan with 1:01 on the clock. Desravines knocked down a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to go to push the lead to three at 51-48, and a last second three by Emerson fell short.

Wheaton finished the game shooting 28.1 percent (16-of-57) compared to 39.6 percent for Emerson (19-of-48) but held a 37-32 edge on the class and won the game at the free throw line. The Lyons connected on 16 of 19 attempts (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe while Emerson missed six of their 13 attempts (53.8 percent). Wheaton turned the ball over just six times while forcing Emerson to turn the ball over on 13 occasions. Kalilou-Mack finished with a team-high 10 points for Emerson.

The Lyons return to action next Tuesday with a 7 p.m. home contest against Mount Ida. Emerson hosts MIT next Tuesday at 7 p.m.