Wheaton upsets nationally-ranked conference foe WPI, 64-62

February 8, 2006

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College men's basketball team snapped national power Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) nine-game winning streak Wednesday night, knocking off the 13th-ranked Engineers, 64-62 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game at Emerson Gymnasium.

Improving to 14-8 overall and 5-5 in the NEWMAC, the Lyons became only the second team in 17 games to defeat WPI in a contest where the outcome was decided by eight points or fewer. The Engineers, who were carrying a seven-game conference winning streak into tonight's affair, fell to 19-2 and 8-2, respectively. However, with Coast Guard's loss tonight, WPI claims at least a share of the regular season title.

Wheaton dashed out to a quick 4-0 lead on a jumper by sophomore Jake Otto (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) and a pair of free throws by senior James Greenslit (Framingham, MA/Rivers School). WPI tied the game at four, but the hosts responded with a 7-0 spurt to take an 11-4 advantage and a lead that held until the 4:49 mark. Senior Sean Kelly (Providence, RI/Wheeler School), who posted five points during that stretch, deposited two of his eight first-half points on a scooping lay-up high off the glass to give the Lyons a 23-17 lead with 6:38 on the clock.

WPI senior Ryan Flynn (Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) drained a jumper and made a lay-up to cut the deficit to a pair, and junior Ryan Cain (Webster, MA/Saint John's) hit his team's only three-pointer of the half with just under five minutes left to swing the lead in favor of the Engineers for the first time. Cain's basket proved to be the final scoring of the half, as turnovers and cold shooting prevailed for the remainder of the stanza.

The poor shooting continued to open the second half, as twice the teams exchanged misses until Flynn got a three-point bucket to fall nearly two minutes into the frame. Wheaton stayed within striking distance and at the 12:46 mark Kelly converted a three-point play for one of the games' 14 lead changes, eight of which came with under 10 minutes to play. Midway through the half, Wheaton junior Brian Zukowski (Dracut, MA/Dracut) drained a jumper, stole a WPI pass on the next possession and split two Engineer defenders for a second consecutive score to give the Lyons a 45-42 edge.

Wheaton eventually secured the lead for good with 41 seconds remaining, when sophomore center Brent DiGiovanna (Hanover, MA/Hanover) knocked down a baseline jumper to make the score 61-60. On the next possession, Zukowski grabbed his third steal of the game and Greenslit hit two free throws for a three-point margin. Following a lay-up from Cain with 15 ticks left and a giveaway by Wheaton on the next possession, Kelly managed to corral his seventh steal of the contest and hit the front end of a one-and-one for a two-point lead. The Engineers missed a jumper in the closing seconds and pulled down the offensive rebound, but following a scramble in the paint WPI was unable to get off another attempt as time expired.

Zukowski exploded for 14 second-half points en route to netting a team-best 19 on 7-of-12 shooting while grabbing a game-high tying seven boards. Kelly chipped in 14 points and a game-best seven steals, while Greenslit finished with 11 points, hitting all six of his free throws. DiGiovanna rounded out the quartet of double-figure scorers with 10 points, as Wheaton shot 51.6 percent from the field in the second half.

Flynn totaled a game-high 22 points off the bench for the Engineers, highlighted by a 7-of-7 performance from the free throw line. WPI's top two scorers were held to a combined 17 points, as Cain had 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and sophomore Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA/Everett) finished with five markers and a game-high tying seven boards. The Engineers were perfect from the free throw line on 14 attempts in the second half and finished the game at an 87.5 percent clip. WPI shot 44.7 percent from the floor but just 18.8 percent from the three-point line.

Wheaton takes nearly a week off before returning to action next Tuesday against the United States Coast Guard Academy at 7:30 p.m.

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