Lyons' furious second-half rally falls short at WPI in conference tourney

February 25, 2006

WORCESTER, MA- The fourth-seeded Wheaton College men's basketball team's bid to reach its second consecutive New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament championship game fell short Saturday afternoon, as the Lyons made a valiant effort to overcome a 34-point second-half deficit before falling, 81-67 to top seed Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at Harrington Auditorium.

Slipping to 16-10 overall, the Lyons will await word on a possible berth into the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament for a fourth straight year, while the 21-3 Engineers advance to their second straight conference title game where they will face the winner of today's second semifinal round game between number-two seed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and third-seeded United States Coast Guard Academy. Sunday's championship game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.

The host Engineers exploded for 31 of the game's first 36 points, hitting on all cylinders by scoring on their first 10 possessions. WPI made 9-of-11 shots during that 5:56 stretch, including knocking down six of its first seven three-point field goal attempts. The Engineers opened up a 26-point lead by holding Wheaton scoreless for 5:45, as the Lyons went 2-of-10 from the floor with five turnovers through the first 9:05.

Senior Ryan Flynn (Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) gave the hosts an offensive spark after hitting his first four three-pointers of the half, as WPI finished the stanza with nine threes. The Engineers used a 28-10 rebounding advantage to notch 12 second-chance points in addition to outscoring Wheaton, 14-0 in points off turnovers. WPI junior Ryan Cain (Webster, MA/Saint John's) drained a trio of treys for nine first-half points and senior Brett Dickson (Bedford, NH/Manchester West) made two threes and had eight points. Wheaton was led by senior James Greenslit's (Framingham, MA/Rivers School) seven points.

It was a tale of two halves in the second stanza. With the margin at 34 points with less than 17:30 to play, the Lyons used a 19-3 run and scored 34 of 44 points during the middle portion of the half to whittle their deficit down to 10 with 6:41 left. Sophomore Brent DiGiovanna (Hanover, MA/Hanover) provided six straight Wheaton points to begin the comeback, while classmates David Harding (Hanover, MA/Boston College), Eric Johnston (South Windsor, CT/East Catholic) and Jake Otto (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) combined for the team's next 11.

DiGiovanna and Johnston continued their push midway through the stanza, helping the Lyons trim a 64-42 deficit to a 69-59 margin with a combined 17 points, including three Johnston steals and a pair of traditional three-point plays. Within striking distance following a DiGiovanna jumper with 5:40 to go, the hosts hit three free throws while keeping Wheaton off the board during a stretch of 2:34 to pull away for good. A total of 32 fouls were committed in the second half alone, as both teams combined to foul out six of their players.

DiGiovanna capped his afternoon with a career- and game-best 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting in just 27 minutes, while Johnston posted all 12 of his points in the second half to go along with five steals. Greenslit finished with nine points and four boards and junior Brian Zukowski (Dracut, MA/Dracut) had seven points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Flynn paced WPI with 17 points and three steals, Dickson had 14 points and five assists, and sophomore Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA/Everett) turned in the lone double-double with 14 points, 12 boards and three steals. Cain and sophomore James Marois (Worcester, MA/Doherty) rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points apiece. Marois also had seven rebounds in just 18 minutes.

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