NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team fell to visiting Emerson College, 84-55, 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 13-7 overall and 6-5 in league play, while the Lions improve to 8-12 and 4-7.
Emerson led from start to finish and held Wheaton to just 28.3% (13-46) shooting, while owning a healthy 43-22 rebounding advantage. The Lions shot 50.9% (28-55) from the floor, including 10-22 from three-point range for a 45.5% clip.
Junior guard Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) led the Lyons with 15 points on 4-7 shooting and was 3-4 from three-point territory to go with two assists, a pair of steals and a rebound. He now has 164 steals to move past Lloyd Palmer '00 and into fourth on the school's all-time list. Senior guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) netted 10 points, pulled down a rebound, handed out two assists and came up with a steal, while senior guard Chris Billone (Windham, N.H.) made the most of his minutes with eight points in nine minutes off the bench.
Senior center Linus Helmhold (Krefeld, Germany) scored 24 points to lead Emerson. He was 6-8 from the field and 11-12 from the free throw line to go with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Junior forward Shay Roban (Roslyn Heights, N.Y.) netted 15 points on 5-9 from the floor, including 3-5 from long range in addition to grabbing six boards and coming up with a steal in 18 minutes off the bench. Senior guard Brendan McNamara (Arlington, Mass.) contributed with 10 points, two assists, a rebound and a steal.
The Lions scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back. Wheaton put together a 10-4 stretch, including a three-pointer each from Herry, Billone and Iafrate, to pull the home team within 11-10 at the 12:53 mark of the opening half. It was as close as the Lyons would get for the game. Iafrate later sank a pair of free throws to keep Wheaton within a possession at 15-12 with 11:44 to go in the half, but Emerson reeled off 16 straight points, including seven from Roban, to give the visitors a 28-15 advantage with 8:25 showing on the clock. Sophomore guard Sean Perri (West Roxbury, Mass.) buried a triple for the Lyons at 6:15, but it just paused the Lions' offensive outburst. The Emerson offense went back to work and closed out the half with a 16-6 stretch, paced by six different scorers, to give the Lions a 44-24 halftime cushion.
Helmhold drilled a three-pointer with 17:29 remaining in the second half to increase the Emerson lead to 50-24. The Lions later increased their advantage to 60-34, following a jumper from senior guard Jacob Armant (Arlington, Texas) with 11:33 left in the game. Wheaton produced a 7-2 burst, capped by a pair of free throws from first year guard Wyatt Benoit (Saco, Maine) to cut the deficit to 62-41 with 9:31 to play, but it was as close as the home team would get for the remainder of the night. Emerson took its largest lead of the contest at 84-53 after sophomore guard Roman Leraris (San Francisco, Calif.) drained a trifecta with 1:44 to go in the game.
The Lions return to the court on Saturday, February 7 when they host NEWMAC foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 1:00 p.m., while the Lyons also take on MIT next on Wednesday, February 4 in Cambridge, Mass. at 6:00 p.m.
