NORTON, Mass. — Senior forward Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) drained a fade away jumper as time expired to give the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team a 68-66 victory over visiting Clark University this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 10-5 overall and 3-3 in league play, while the Cougars fall to 9-7 and 4-3.
The teams were tied with 3.3 seconds to play in the game when junior guard Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) fed Morrissey with the inbounds pass from under the basket. Morrissey took one dribble before turning and sticking the 10-foot jumper to beat the buzzer for Wheaton.
The Lyons overcame a nine-point halftime deficit and shot 38% (19-50) for the game, including 43.5% (10-23) in the second half. Wheaton was just 5-20 (25%) from three-point range but connected on 25-31 (80.6%) from the free throw line. Clark held a slight 37-36 edge on the glass and shot 39.7% (23-58) from the floor, but was just 11-19 (57.9%) from the line.
Iafrate finished with a game-high 22 points on 8-14 from the floor for the Lyons to go with five assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals, while Morrissey netted 12 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line, and added eight boards, two assists and a steal. Senior guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) contributed with nine points, three rebounds, a pair of steals and an assist.
First year guard Aliaun Iscandari (Hawthorne, Calif.) led the Cougars with 20 points, including four three-pointers, in addition to three rebounds, four steals and two assists, while sophomore forward Boluwasefe John (Corona, N.Y.) contributed with 14 points, eight boards, an assist and a blocked shot. Senior guard Reid Neumann (Burbank, Calif.) netted 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and came up with a steal.
Sophomore guard Kyle Squires (Kingston, Mass.) converted a layup with 4:50 to play in the game to give Clark a 64-60 margin, before Wheaton ripped off six unanswered points, capped by a layup high off the glass from Iafrate to give the home team a 66-64 lead with 69 seconds left in the contest. Iscandari knotted the game for the Cougars when he came up with a steal at mid court and scored on a lay-up with 25.7 ticks showing on the clock. The Lyons had the ball for the last shot and Morrissey looked to put Wheaton up with a layup, but the attempt was blocked out of bounds by John to set up Wheaton's game-winning inbounds play.
The Lyons took an early 7-5 lead following a dunk from sophomore forward Rex Zadrozny (Cumberland, R.I.) with 16:47 remaining in the opening half. Clark received back-to-back triples from Neumann and Iscandari to take an 11-7 margin with 14:55 showing on the first half clock. Junior forward Malik Matanmi (Pawtucket, R.I.) maintained the Cougars' advantage with a put-back at the 12:35 mark to make it 15-11. Herry scored the game's next five points to reclaim the lead for Wheaton with one of 13 lead changes in the contest. Sophomore forward Nick Scandura (Barrington, R.I.) later sank a pair of free throws to give the Lyons a 26-23 lead, before Iscandari fueled a 16-4 Clark run with seven points to close the half with a 39-30 cushion for the visitors.
Iscandari knocked down a trifecta to help maintain the Cougars' margin at 42-34 with 17:41 left in the game. Wheaton fought back, putting together a dominant 12-1 stretch, paced by six points from Herry, including a triple to give the Lyons the lead at 46-43 with 14:39 to play in the game. Scandura later converted two free throws to give Wheaton its largest lead of the day at 52-47 with 12:19 remaining in the contest. Clark scored seven of the next eight points and took a 54-53 edge after a tip-in from John at the 10:23 mark for the first of five lead changes in the final 10 minutes of play.
The Lyons return to action on Tuesday, January 20 when they head to Newport, R.I. to take on NEWMAC foe Salve Regina University at 7:00 p.m., while the Cougars host Springfield College on the same day and time.
