WORCESTER, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team fell to host Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 66-59, this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Harrington Auditorium in Worcester, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 9-7 on the season, including 3-5 in league play, while the Engineers, who received votes in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25 Coaches Poll, improve to 14-3 and 7-1.
WPI committed just nine turnovers, while forcing Wheaton into 16 miscues that translated into a 16-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The Engineers shot 42.3% (22-52), despite struggling from three-point range in the second half with a 1-9 effort. The Lyons were limited to 34% (17-50) from the field, while owning a 42-35 rebounding average.
Sophomore guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) led Wheaton with 13 points, including a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line and added four rebounds and two assists. First year guard Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) netted 10 points to go with four rebounds, a steal and a block and junior forward Tarmo Tari (Chelmsford, Mass.) came off the bench to contribute with nine points and was 2-3 from three-point range in addition to grabbing five rebounds and handing out an assist.
Senior forward John Adams (Douglas, Mass.) was 7-10 from the field and posted his third consecutive and eighth double-double of the season for WPI with game-highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds in addition to four assists and a blocked shot. Senior guard Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, Calif.) scored 13 points, pulled down a pair of rebounds and came up with two steals, while junior guard Tim Reidy (Needham, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
Iafrate canned a triple with 18:42 left in the opening half to give the Lyons their only lead of the night at 3-2. The Engineers scored on their next possession and never trailed for the remainder of the contest. Reidy knocked down a three-pointer to give the home team a 14-9 margin with 11:57 showing in the opening stanza. The teams played close throughout the half and Wheaton made it a one-point game following a three-pointer from sophomore guard Sal Pedevillano (Parsippany, N.J.) at the 9:49 mark. Junior guard Ty Murphy (Dedham, Mass.) kept the Lyons to within a point at 16-15 with a layup exactly a minute later, before WPI went on a 7-2 burst to increase its lead to 23-17 with 5:36 left in the half.
Wheaton ripped off six straight points, capped by a layup from junior forward Duncan Bubar (Newton, Mass.) to pull the visitors even at 23-23 with 3:35 remaining in the session. Sophomore guard J.R. Newman (Havertown, Pa.) drilled a trifecta to ignite a 10-2 stretch that gave the Engineers a 33-25 advantage with 37 seconds left, before junior forward Khaled Thaher (Amman, Jordan) hit a pull up jumper with 14 ticks left for the Lyons to make it 33-27 at the intermission.
WPI scored six of the first eight points to open the second stanza to take its largest lead of the evening at 39-29 with 16:49 showing on the second half clock. Adams converted a layup later in the half to maintain a 46-37 cushion for the Engineers with 7:32 to play in the game. Wheaton clawed its way back, including five points from Tarmo during a run of six unanswered points to make it a one possession game at 46-43 with 6:09 to go in the half. WPI bumped its lead to 55-47 following a 9-4 stretch at 3:26, but Herry scored the next five points, including a three-ball that pulled the Lyons within 55-52 with 2:45 showing in the half. It was as close as Wheaton would get as the Engineers put together a 10-4 stretch with four points each from Adams and Sevilla, to extend the home team's advantage to 65-56 with just 28 ticks left on the clock.
The Lyons return to play on Saturday, January 20 when they host NEWMAC foe Clark University for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff in Emerson Gymnasium, while WPI hosts Salve Regina University on the same day at 1:00 p.m.
