WORCESTER, Mass. — Junior guard Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) scored a game-high 27 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's basketball team over host Clark University, 80-65, this evening in a New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference contest at Hurst Courts in Worcester, Mass.
The Lyons have won four of their last five games and improve to 15-7 overall and 8-5 in the league. The victory clinches a spot in the upcoming NEWMAC Championship Tournament for Wheaton. The Cougars fall to 12-11 and 7-7.
Iafrate becomes the 17th player in school history to reach the 1000-point milestone for the Lyons. He was 8-16 from the floor and 8-10 from the free throw line to go with seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Senior guard Tristan Herry (East Taunton, Mass.) netted 20 points on 8-16 shooting, including 4-9 from three-point range and added three rebounds, four assists and a steal. Sophomore guard Sean Perri (West Roxbury, Mass.) chipped in with 14 points on 5-8 from the field and 2-3 from long range in addition to pulling down five rebounds, handing out two assists and coming up with a steal.
Sophomore forward Boluwasefe John (Corona, N.Y.) led Clark with 17 points on an efficient 7-9 shooting effort and added two rebounds and a steal, while senior guard Reid Neumann (Burbank, Calif.) dropped in 13 points, grabbed four boards, doled out an assist, made a steal and blocked a shot. First year guard Aliaun Iscandari (Hawthorne, Calif.) scored 12 points, snared three rebounds, dished for five assists and picked up two steals and classmate Elijah Small (Astoria, N.Y.) contributed with 10 points, six rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.
Wheaton clung to a 41-39 lead at halftime, but took control of the contest with a 17-5 stretch, fueled by seven points from Iafrate and five from Herry, to take a 58-44 advantage with 13:58 to play in the game. The Cougars answered with a 10-5 burst, capped by a Neumann three-pointer, to cut the deficit to 63-54, but it was the last time the home team would be down by just single digits and the closest they would get for the remainder of the contest. The Lyons put together a 10-4 run with the final four points coming from Iafrate to boost Wheaton's cushion to 73-58 with 4:02 showing on the second half clock. Perri converted a layup with 86 seconds left in the contest to give the Lyons their largest lead of the game at 80-63.
Boluwasefe made a layup at the 18:23 mark of the opening half to pull Clark within 5-4, before a 10-4 Wheaton run backed by six points from Herry gave the visitors a 15-8 margin. Iafrate later buried a triple to give the Lyons a 24-14 lead with 12:05 to go in the half, but the Cougars battled back with a 12-2 stretch, led by six points from Small, to level the contest at 26-26 with 8:07 left in the opening session. Wheaton looked to pull away before the intermission with an 11-4 blitz, fueled by five points from Perri and four from Iafrate, to give the Lyons a 37-29 advantage with 4:19 remaining. Iafrate notched his 1000th career point with the first of two free throws at the 4:33 mark of the half. Clark answered with a 10-4 burst, including a layup at the buzzer from junior guard Christopher Clarke to pull the Cougars within 41-39 at the break.
Wheaton returns to the hardwood on Saturday, February 14 when its hosts NEWMAC rival Babson College for Senior Day at 3:00 p.m. at Emerson Gymnasium, while Clark hosts league foe Emerson College on the same day for its own Senior Day at 1:00 p.m.
