NORTON, Mass. –  The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but visiting United States Coast Guard Academy came back to pull off an 83-78 comeback victory this evening in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference contest at Emerson Gymnasium on the campus of Wheaton in Norton, Mass. The Lyons fall to 5-12 overall and 0-6 in league play, while the Bears snap a five-game slide and earn their first conference win of the season to improve to 4-11 and 1-5.

Junior guard Marckenley Lima (Roslindale, Mass.) led all scorers with 19 points for Wheaton, including 8-9 from the free throw line, and added five rebounds, an assist and a steal, while junior forward Aaron Williams (Springfield, Mass.) dropped in 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out three assists. Junior guard Alex Carlisle (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) chipped in with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists and first year forward Khaled Thaher (Amman, Jordan) registered his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists, two blocks and a steal.

Senior forward Tyler Perez (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Coast Guard. He added an assist, a steal and a blocked shot, while senior guard Garrett Drummond (Frederick, Md.) also scored 18 points on 5-9 shooting to go with a game-high seven assists. In addition, he added three rebounds and a steal. First year guard Ben Yagey (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) contributed with 16 points, including four three-pointers, in addition to five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals off the bench. First year center Bryce VanderWiere (Schoolcraft, Mich.) came off the bench to net a career-high 11 points on 5-7 from the field to go with five boards in 16 minutes of action.

Lima knocked down a three-pointer to give the Lyons a 63-55 lead with 8:04 showing in the second half, but the Bears went on a 12-3 run, capped by a Drummond triple, to take its first lead of the second half (67-66) at 4:32. The Coast Guard run was part of a 22-6 stretch over seven and a half minutes that gave the visitors a 77-69 lead with 44 seconds left in the game. Wheaton closed to within 81-78 after three free throws from Lima with just under nine ticks left in the game, but it was as close as it would get.

The Bears jumped out to an 8-2 lead and had an 11-4 lead following a trey by Yagey with 14:04 left in the first half before the Lyons scored eight straight to take a 12-11 lead with 11:38 left in the half.

Perez hit a three with 7:12 left in the opening half to give Coast Guard a 21-20 lead before Wheaton once again scored eight straight to open up a 28-21 lead with 2:55 left in the opening half.

Yagey capped a 10-2 burst to give the Bears a 31-30 edge with 51 seconds to go for the seventh lead change of the first session. Williams converted a free throw before the end of the half to knot the score at 31-31 for the home team to head into the break. 

Wheaton outscored the Bears, 20-7, including eight points from Williams, to take a 51-38 lead with 14:55 remaining in the second stanza. 

The Lyons return to the hardwood on Wednesday, January 26 when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. to take on NEWMAC foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 8:00 p.m., while the Bears are back in action on the same night when they host Worcester Polytechnic Institute in a league game at 7:00 p.m.