ECAC DIVISION III MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT - Kelly nets 1,000th point during Wheaton's 82-65 first round win over Emmanuel

March 1, 2006

NORTON, MA--- Wheaton College senior Sean Kelly (Providence, RI/Wheeler School) became the 10th player in program history to score 1,000 points and tallied a game-high 26 points as the sixth-seeded Lyons downed number three Emmanuel College, 82-65 during the first round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament on Wednesday at Emerson Gymnasium.

Wheaton, the defending tournament champion, advanced to the ECAC semifinals for the fourth straight season and improved to 17-10 while handing the Saints consecutive losses for the first time since early December. Emmanuel lost for just the second time in 17 games and finished its season 20-8. The Lyons continue their title defense against second-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in a Friday semifinal, as the teams tip off at Emerson Gym at 7:00 p.m. The Engineers defeated number seven Plymouth State University, 60-55.

Emmanuel countered Wheaton junior Brian Zukowski's (Dracut, MA/Dracut) early three-pointer with six points from a trio of scorers, but the Lyons rallied to tie the game at eight following three straight points from Kelly. Freshman Kristopher Pedra (Avon, CT/Avon) converted a three-point play to give Wheaton the lead back at 13-10. After a pair of free throws by Emmanuel junior Toliver Thomas (New Orleans, LA/Warren Easton) cut the host's lead to 13-12, Pedra finished off a run of scoring seven straight Wheaton points to spark a game-changing 17-2 jaunt over a 5:26 span. Six different Lyons scored as the Blue and White pulled to a 30-14 advantage.

Freshman Nick Michel (Hyde Park, MA/Boston Latin School) dropped in a lay-up to give the Lyons a 20-point lead, 44-24 at 2:32 and cap a 12-2 run before the Saints rallied. Freshman Rob Williams-Hinton (Detroit, MI/University of Detroit Academy) and sophomore Levi Smith (Tulsa, OK/Bishop Kelly) converted consecutive three-point plays during a 9-0 run, and Emmanuel trailed only 44-33 with 46 seconds left in the half. However, Kelly scored the final three points of the stanza, including the 1,000th of his career after corralling a loose ball and scooping home a breakaway lay-up with less than a second remaining to make the score 47-33 at intermission.

For the half, the Lyons shot 46.9 percent against the sixth-best field goal defense in Division III, hitting 15-of-32 shots. Wheaton shot 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 14-of-20 on free throws while the Saints were 0-of-7 and 7-of-9, respectively. Zukowski had 14 points, while Williams-Hinton was Emmanuel's top scorer with nine.

After the teams got off to a cold start in the second half, combining to miss the first eight shots over 2:18, the Lyons slowly pulled away, as Kelly played a hand in 14 straight Wheaton points during a 5:23 span to help the hosts maintain a sizeable lead. The Lyons led by as much as 22 before the final buzzer sounded, as the Saints never trailed by less than 11 points during the second stanza.

Kelly went 8-of-15 from the field while contributing six rebounds and game highs of five assists and five steals. Zukowski went 8-of-8 on free throws and finished with 16 points and four steals, while sophomore Brent DiGiovanna (Hanover, MA/Hanover) picked up 11 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Wheaton finished with a 45 percent clip from the floor and 21-of-32 from the charity stripe.

Smith and Williams-Hinton led a balanced scoring attack for the Saints, each netting 15 points, while Smith also pulled down nine rebounds. Thomas added 14 points and seven boards, while freshman Mack Spellman (Clinton, NY/Clinton) contributed 10 points and nine rebounds. The Saints went 1-of-15 from three-point range.

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