Zukowski drops 37 as Lyons pick up NEWMAC win over Clark, 96-89

January 11, 2007

NORTON, MA- Senior Brian Zukowski (Dracut, MA/Dracut) netted a career-high 37 points by hitting a school-record 19 free throws, leading the Wheaton College men's basketball team to a 96-89 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Clark University on Thursday evening in Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons are now 7-5 overall and 1-2 in the league, while the Cougars are 7-5 and 1-1.

Zukowski connected on 19-of-23 free throw attempts, edging Mahlon Williams's school record of 18 set on November 20, 1993, and was three points shy of matching the program's 14-year-old standard. By hitting 7-of-16 shots, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc, Zukowski became the fifth Wheaton player to ever tally 35 points.

The contest began slowly for the Lyons, but after missing their first five shots, they finished the first half by hitting 17 of their final 28. Wheaton mounted a 9-0 run to forge an 11-5 edge. Up 24-18, the Lyons scored 15 of the next 17 points, including 12 straight to make it 39-20 with 4:06 remaining in the stanza. Zukowski netted six straight during that time, while freshman Andrew Ferreira (New London, NH/Kearsarge Regional) canned a three and dished off a pair of assists. The Lyons took a 43-26 lead into the locker room.

The game took a different look in the second half, as Clark used a 9-of-21 effort from beyond the arc to rally for 63 points, while Zukowski kept the Lyons in front thanks to a strong effort from the charity stripe. Wheaton continued to lead by double digits during the better part of the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but the Cougars crept all the way back to 59-53 with 9:33 remaining on sophomore Peter Normandin's (Westminster, MA/New Hampton School) tip-in, as the visitors exceeded their first-half scoring effort on the bucket.

Zukowski and freshman Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA/New Hampton School) nailed consecutive threes to push the Wheaton lead out to 12 with 8:23 left, but freshman Reed Powell's (Worcester, MA/University Park) long-range bucket made it 71-65 with 4:56 to go. Over the final 2:51, Zukowski hit 15-of-18 freebie attempts, but Clark went 7-of-12 from the field to stay close, hitting 5-of-10 three-point tries. Between the teams, 40 points were scored in the final 2:51. Freshman Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA/Tabor Academy) hit a pair of threes 11 seconds apart to keep the Cougars within 87-81 at 1:01, while juniors D.J. Brinn (Madison, CT/Daniel Hand) and Dominique Beck (Brockton, MA/Brockton) sandwiched treys around a pair of Zukowski free throws to make it 94-89 with 12 seconds left. However, Zukowski followed with two more freebies, and Clark's final attempt was off.

Zukowski added a team-high eight rebounds and six helpers in addition to going 18-of-22 on free throws in the second half after attempting only one in the opening 20 minutes. Ferreira added eight points and seven assists in his first collegiate start, while freshman Ben Stehle (Newton, MA/Newton South) collected 12 points and seven boards. Leo and junior Eric Johnston (South Windsor, CT/East Catholic) added 11 points apiece, while sophomore Nick Michel (Hyde Park, MA/Boston Latin School) tallied 10 points and six rebounds. For the game, Wheaton went 28-of-56 from the field, including 10-of-21 on threes, while hitting 30-of-36 freebie tries.

Freshman Mark Alexander (Providence, RI/Marianapolis Prep) led Clark with 20 points by going 8-of-13 from the field as one of five Cougars with a pair of three-pointers. He added four assists and three steals, while Normandin had 13 points and six boards. Beck added 11 points and eight rebounds, Powell had 11 points and six boards, and McLaughlin collected 10 points and six assists. Clark finished 11-of-31 from downtown and shot 57.5 percent from the field in the second half.

Today's game began a stretch of four games in seven days, which continues when the Lyons return to action Saturday at NEWMAC foe Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at 3:00 p.m.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 1/25/07.
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