NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team fell to visiting Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 82-70, this evening in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Emerson Gymnasium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 11-6 overall and 4-4 in league play, while the Engineers win their fourth in a row and six of their last seven to improve to 14-3 and 7-1.
WPI was very efficient with the basketball, committing just six turnovers, while shooting 52.6% (30-57) from the floor to go with a 31-24 rebounding advantage. Wheaton shot well with a 50% (24-48) rate, including 47.8% (11-23) from three-point range, but managed just two offensive boards on the night.
Senior forward Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) and classmate Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) each scored 17 points to lead the Lyons. Morrissey added seven rebounds and an assist and Herry was 5-10 from the floor, grabbed two boards, dished for two assists and picked up a pair of steals. Senior guard Chris Billone (Windham, N.H.) kept Wheaton in the game with three big triples in the second half in 10 minutes off the bench.
Junior forward Justin Molen (Newark, Del.) led all scorers with 23 points to lead the Engineers. He was a tidy 10-15 from the field and added five rebounds and two assists, while graduate student guard Tim Reidy (Needham, Mass.) netted 18 points, pulled down three rebounds and came up with a steal. Junior guard Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, Texas) finished with 15 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Billone buried his third three-pointer of the game at the 5:33 mark of the second half to pull the Lyons within 66-63, but WPI put together a damaging 14-4 stretch over the next four and a half minutes, fueled by eight points from Molen, to give the visitors a 80-67 lead with 62 ticks left in the contest.
The Engineers took an early 12-8 margin, including five points from Reidy, with 15:27 to go in the opening half. Wheaton answered with an 11-2 run, paced by five points from Herry, to take a 19-14 lead with 11:25 showing on the first half clock. WPI scored five of the next six points, including a trifecta from first year guard Tao Schreiber (Pompano Beach, Fla.) to cut the deficit to 20-19 with 9:10 remaining in the half. The Lyons countered with a five-point strike to post their largest lead of the game at 25-19, following a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Sean Perri (West Roxbury, Mass.).
The Engineers reeled off six unanswered points to knot the contest at 25-25 with 5:25 left in the half. Wheaton bumped its lead to 30-25 at 4:16 with five straight points from Herry. He maintained the home team's margin with a pair of free throws to make it 32-27 with 3:09 remaining in the session. The back and forth continued with WPI scoring the next six points to pull ahead at 33-32 with 1:20 to play in the half, before a three-ball from Perri gave the Lyons the lead (35-33) with a minute to go in the period. Junior guard Jack Bleier (Victor, N.Y.) converted a layup in the waning seconds to pull the visitors even for a 35-35 halftime count.
The Engineers scored the five of the first six points of the new stanza, including a three-pointer from Bledsoe to give them a 40-36 margin, before Wheaton went on an 8-2 run, capped by a layup from sophomore forward Nick Scandura (Barrington, R.I.) to give the Lyons their last lead of the night at 44-42 with 16:25 showing in the second half. WPI began to assert itself with a 16-5 stretch, led by seven points from Reidy, to take a 58-49 advantage with 10:44 to play in the game. Wheaton came alive with a 9-2 run, sparked by a pair of three-balls off the bench from Billone, to pull within 60-58 with 7:41 to go in the contest.
The Lyons return to the court when they head to Springfield, Mass. to take on conference rival Springfield College for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, January 24, while the Engineers return on the same day when they host NEWMAC foe Babson College at 2:00 p.m.
