NORTON, Mass. – Senior guard Alex Carlisle (Saint Johnsbury, Vt.) netted 19 points to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team over visiting Springfield College, 86-73, this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Emerson Gymnasium on the campus of Wheaton in Norton, Mass. 

The Lyons have won three of their last four games and improve to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in league play, while the Pride fall to 3-11 and 0-3. 

Wheaton held Springfield to just 38.7% (24-62) shooting from the floor, while recording a 46.4% (26-56) mark. The Lyons controlled the glass by a count of 42-32, which translated to a 17-8 advantage in second chance points. Wheaton also sank a season-high 27 free throws on 33 attempts for a gaudy 81.8 percentage.

Carlisle scored double-digits for the 13th straight contest for the Lyons, including 8-9 from the free throw line, and pulled down three rebounds to go with a steal and five assists to give him five or more helpers in five outings this season. Senior forward Aaron Williams (Springfield, Mass.) scored 16 points and finished a rebound short of a double-double with nine to go with an assist, a steal and a blocked shot, while senior guard Evan Cook (Dunstable, Mass.) contributed with 13 points on 4-8 from the field and 5-6 from the line and added four rebounds. Senior forward Patrick Oed (The Woodlands, Texas) chipped in with a season-high 10 points on 3-5 shooting, including both of his three-point field goal tries in nine minutes off the bench.

Senior guard Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) scored a game-high 25 points on 9-16 shooting in addition to three rebounds, three steals and an assist for the Pride and sophomore forward Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) posted his third double-double of the year with 16 points and 11 rebounds to go with a pair of blocks and an assist. First year guard John Paulino (New Bedford, Mass.) scored 14 points, pulled down two boards and handed out two assists.

Paulino scored six points to fuel a 10-3 run to open the second half and pull Springfield to within 46-43 with 15:32 to play in the second half. The Pride kept the game to within three points on two other occasions, including 50-47 at the 13:31 mark. It was as close as the visitors would get for the remainder of the evening before Wheaton put the game out of reach following a 13-2 blitz, paced by seven points from Oed and five from Carlisle to give the home team a 63-49 lead with 9:54 to play in the game. 

Springfield never got closer than nine points for the rest of the night and trailed 80-71 at the 2:14 mark of the second half. The Lyons scored six of the final eight points to lock up the victory.

The Pride took an early 14-6 lead at 13:41 of the opening half for their largest advantage of the game, including five points from Costa.

Wheaton put together an 18-4 stretch, capped by a Williams' jumper to give the Lyons a 24-18 margin with 8:26 showing on the first half clock.

Springfield fought back with a 9-2 run, punctuated by a three-pointer from senior forward Panayiotis Kapanides (Bedford, Mass.), to give the Pride a 27-26 edge with 6:03 to play in the opening stanza. It proved to be the final lead of the game for the visitors.

Wheaton took the lead for good on a layup from first year forward Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) to spark an 11-3 burst to give the Lyons a 37-30 cushion with 75 seconds left in the first half. Costa converted a fast break layup to cut the deficit to 37-32 for the Pride to head into the break down by five.

Wheaton returns to action on Saturday, January 14 when it heads to Babson Park, Mass. to play Babson College in a NEWMAC contest at 1:00 p.m., while Springfield heads to Cambridge, Mass. to take on league foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 2:00 p.m. on the same day.