CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team fell to host Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 72-63, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Rockwell Cage in Cambridge, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 4-6 overall and 0-2 in league play, while the Engineers improve to 5-4 and 1-1.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball, especially from long range for the day. Wheaton shot just 36.4% (20-55), including a mere 8.7% (2-23) from three-point range. MIT wasn't much better, shooting 40.4% (23-57) overall and 22.7% (5-22) from long distance. The Engineers outworked the Lyons on the glass with a 42-30 rebounding margin.
Junior guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) led Wheaton with 20 points, including 10-12 from the free throw line, to go with an assist, while junior forward Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) netted 10 points on 5-9 from the floor and added eight rebounds and a pair of assists. Sophomore guard Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals.
Junior guard Rome Delgado-Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) led all scorers with 22 points on 6-9 from the field and was also 9-11 from the line to go with eight boards, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot for MIT. Sophomore forward Merlin Gogolin (New York, N.Y.) contributed with 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal and junior guard Tim Minicozzi (Belmont, Mass.) scored 12 points, pulled down a rebound and came up with a steal.
Herry put the first points on the board with a layup for the Lyons 43 seconds into the game, but the Engineers put together a 15-3 stretch, paced by eight points from Gogolin, to give them a 15-5 advantage with 14:09 to play in the opening half.
MIT later increased its margin to 29-15 after a layup from Gogolin, before Wheaton closed out the half with a 15-2 blitz, including 12 straight points to pull within 31-30 at the intermission.
Senior forward Khaled Thaher (Amman, Jordan) gave the Lyons their first lead since the opening hoop with a layup just 15 ticks into the new half for a 32-31 edge.
The Engineers scored the next seven points, capped by a triple from senior guard Spencer Lin (Menlo Park, Calif.), to take a 38-32 advantage at the 17:31 mark. Wheaton answered by scoring seven of the next nine points, including a trifecta from Herry to cut the deficit to 40-39 with 14:54 showing on the second half clock, but it was as close as the Lyons would get for the remainder of the contest.
MIT extended its lead to 51-43 at 9:38, following an 11-4 run, led by six points from Minicozzi. Wheaton remained within striking distance after a fast-break layup from Iafrate cut the margin to 53-49 with 7:19 to go in the game.
The Engineers went on a 13-5 stretch that proved to be the knockout punch with Delgado-Gonzalez and Minicozzi each scoring six points to give the home team a 66-54 cushion with 3:46 to play. Linn converted a free throw to provide MIT with its biggest lead at 70-57 with 2:31 remaining in the contest.
The Lyons return to the court after the New Year when they host University of Massachusetts Boston for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off at Emerson Gymnasium, while the Engineers travel to Framingham, Mass. on December 11 to play Framingham State University at 7:00 p.m.
