Cannon scores 16 points in the loss

BOSTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's basketball team fell to Emerson College, 76-63, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action inside the Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gym on Saturday afternoon.

Senior forward Mike Cannon (New York, N.Y./Hyde School) paced Wheaton with a team-high 16 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Billy Battaglia (Simsbury, Conn./Taft School) netted 11 points, while first-year guard Ryan Fogarty (Walpole, Mass./Walpole) tallied 10 points, four rebounds and dished out three assists.

Emerson junior forward Austin Pinckney (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) scored a season-high and game-high 23 points (8-for-14 FG, 4-for-8 3PT, 3-for-4 FT) and pulled down a team-high nine boards. Classmate guard Michael Thorpe (Newton, Mass./Newton North) chipped in with 12 points, handed out a season-high and game-high nine assists and stole the ball a season-high six times, while junior forward Sean Duffy (Berywyn, Pa./Conestoga) added 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Wheaton held a four point advantage multiple times over the first 5:27 of the game. Battaglia knocked down a three pointer to give the Blue and White a 19-15 lead then the hosts' trimmed Wheaton's margin and took a lead of their own (22-21) after Thorpe sank a three pointer midway through the stanza.

A driving layup from Capstick with 5:08 left to play in the first half knotted the game at 29-29. Emerson proceed to pressure the Blue and White with a 19-1 run to close out the final 5:08 of the opening stanza to take a 48-30 lead at the break. The spurt was highlighted by nine points from Pinckney, four points via Thorpe, and three points apiece from Duffy and junior guard Mike Carbone (North Reading, Mass./Saint John's Prep).

A trey from Cannon, a jumper and a free throw from Fogarty and two shots from the charity stripe via Battaglia cut Emerson's lead to 12 points (50-38) with an 8-1 run over the opening 2:50 of action in the second half.

Emerson answered with a 25-17 run to claim its largest lead of the contest at 20 points (75-55) with 3:13 to play in the game. An eight points burst from Wheaton over the final two minutes of the game featured jumpers from senior guard Mike O'Loughlin (Milford, N.H./Milford) and sophomore center Alex Sugarman (Concord, Mass./Concord-Carlisle), a pair a free throws via Fogarty and a layup from classmate guard Ben Christopher (Northampton, Mass./Northampton) to cut the margin to 13 points, but it wasn't enough as Emerson held on for a 76-63 victory to wrap up the regular season.

Wheaton shot 41.8-percent (23-for-55) from the field, 34.8-percent (8-for-23) from long range and 69.2-percent (9-for-13) from the charity stripe. Emerson shot 45.9-percent (28-for-61) from the floor, 46.7-percent (14-for-30) from behind the arc and 46.2-percent (6-for-13) from the free throw line. Emerson out rebounded Wheaton 39-27 and held a 26-12 differential in points scored in the paint, while Wheaton outscored Emerson 31-26 from the bench.

The Lyons' 2014-15 season comes to a close with a 4-20 record overall and a 1-13 mark in NEWMAC play. Emerson (11-13, 5-9 NEWMAC) will enter the conference tournament next week as the No. 5 seed and will play the No. 4 seed, which will be determined later today, on Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m.

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