Coppola's 17 points pace Lyons against Norwich in tip-off tournament, Wheaton set to face Plymouth State in Saturday's championship game

November 16, 2007

NORTON, MA- Freshman Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) hit three three-pointers and turned in 17 points during his college debut, leading the Wheaton College men's basketball team past Norwich University, 84-50 in the first round of the Wheaton Tip-Off Tournament on Friday in Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons advanced to tomorrow's championship game against Plymouth State University, which defeated Fairleigh Dickinson University at Florham, 88-74 in tonight's first contest.

During the second game of the evening, Wheaton forged a 9-2 lead by 14:13 on a Coppola three. After scoring at 18:17, Norwich stayed off the board for the next 5:41, as it started 2-of-14. The visitors drew within three points twice, but the Lyons tallied a 10-2 run over the final 2:23. Freshman Bud Gaffney (Berkley, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) picked up a steal before feeding junior Mark Sullivan (West Roxbury, MA/Catholic Memorial) for a breakaway bucket at 1:39 to give the Lyons the first of two 13-point leads, and Gaffney fed Coppola on the break with 23 ticks left to produce the 31-16 halftime margin.

Wheaton capped off what ended up being a 24-7 run over an 8:02 span when sophomore Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA/New Hampton School) canned a three at 14:21 of the second half, making the score 45-21. The Lyons never led by fewer than 22 points the rest of the way, pushing beyond a 30-point edge on junior Nick Michel's (Hyde Park, MA/Boston Latin School) two free throws with 6:15 left in regulation.

Twelve Lyons scored, as nine had at least six points apiece. Coppola's game-high 17 points came in 18 minutes, while Sullivan had 10 points. Gaffney totaled six assists and six rebounds, as Wheaton turned the ball over only eight times while hitting 31-of-62 shots, including 10-of-21 from three-point range. The Lyons shot 7-of-10 from deep in the second half. Junior Jamel Bedford (Queens, NY/Saint John's Prep) and freshman Chris Gaither (Houston, TX/Foster) notched 10 points apiece to lead the Cadets.

After a 4-4 tie with just over 18 minutes left in the first half during the opening game of the tournament, Plymouth State led during the remainder of play thanks to 14-of-18 free-throw shooting that helped carry it to a 44-37 advantage at the intermission. In the half, the Panthers tallied 12 points off 14 FDU-Florham turnovers and their bench outscored the Devils, 8-0. Plymouth State's largest first-half lead of 11 points came with 4:24 to play on a free throw from sophomore Jason O'Keefe (Everett, MA/Everett), who led all scorers in the frame with 15 points.

In the second half, O'Keefe quickly gave Plymouth State a double-digit lead thanks to a three ball 26 seconds in. A 9-3 Panther run to open the stanza separated the teams by 13 points with 17:00 remaining, but a quick 6-0 Devil spurt brought the team to within seven just 58 seconds later. With his team holding to a 53-46 lead, Panther junior Ben Huntington (Hampstead, NH/Pinkerton Academy) drained four treys during a 2:54 span and pushed Plymouth State to a 67-48 advantage with 12:53 left. The Panthers never again led by fewer than 12.

Huntington finished with a team-high 23 points behind 5-of-8 three-point shooting, while O'Keefe added 22 in 21 minutes and went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Mike Chergey (Bow, NH/Bow) added 10 points, while classmate Bryan Tracy (Manchester, NH/Central) had six assists to one turnover and contributed eight points and rebounds. For FDU-Florham, junior Ryan McPherson (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) turned in a game-high 27 points thanks to 10-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe. Junior Andrew Biancosino (Edison, NJ/J.P. Stevens) and freshman Danny Ciprut (Manalapan, NJ/Manalapan) had 14 points each.

Tomorrow's consolation game between FDU-Florham and Norwich is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start, while Wheaton will shoot for its sixth tip-off tournament crown in the championship game against the Panthers at 3:00 p.m. The teams met at Plymouth State in last year's Cobblestone Inn Tip-Off Tournament finale, won by the host.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 11/17/07.
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