Quick start sends 9-1 Lyons past Fitchburg State, to best start in five years

January 5, 2008

FITCHBURG, MA- Freshman Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) led the Wheaton College men's basketball team in scoring for the eighth time this season, with 20 points, and senior captain Brent DiGiovanna (Hanover, MA/Hanover) added 17 points from the bench as the Lyons improved to 9-1 for the first time since 2002-03 behind an 87-67 victory at Fitchburg State College on Saturday. Wheaton won its sixth straight game for the first time since December 2005, while the Falcons dropped their second consecutive contest and fell to 6-3.

A strong showing during the first six minutes of the game at both ends of the court allowed the Lyons to run out to a 17-1 lead by 14:22 after DiGiovanna's three-point play, and the visitors were never seriously threatened from that point forward. Wheaton started 7-of-10 from the floor while holding Fitchburg State scoreless on its first seven field goal tries, yielding just sophomore Tim Graham's (Arlington, MA/Arlington Catholic) free throw at 18:50 before freshman Joshua McDonald (Leominster, MA/Leominster) hit a jumper at 14:08 for his team's first bucket.

Wheaton took its largest first-half lead with time winding down, as freshman Bobby Perry (East Providence, RI/East Providence) picked up a steal before finding DiGiovanna, who canned just his fourth career three-pointer with less than a second left to make it 43-23. The Lyons shot 48.3 percent in the opening stanza, including 4-of-9 from deep, while holding the Falcons to a 30.3 percent overall showing, including 1-of-10 on three-point tries. Wheaton made its way to the charity stripe 15 times, hitting 11 tries.

A Coppola three-point play with 18:06 remaining in regulation capped a 15-3 run that put the Lyons up by a 50-26 count. Fitchburg State later tallied a 13-0 run to creep within 52-39 by 15:08, and the Falcons made the score 66-55 with 8:41 left, but Wheaton soon pushed its lead back out to 20 thanks to 45.7 percent shooting during the period.

Each team committed only 14 turnovers for the game, while the Lyons shot 46.9 percent from the field and knocked down 21 free throws. Fitchburg State shot 39.7 percent, buoyed by a 48.6 percent showing in the second half, but the Falcons went only 3-of-18 from beyond the arc and 10-of-19 from the charity stripe.

Coppola's game-high 20 points came on 6-of-13 shooting and a 6-of-11 showing on free throw tries, and he added four rebounds and four assists. DiGiovanna tallied a season-best 17 points by going 6-of-8 from the floor and 4-of-4 at the charity stripe. He also snagged four boards in 23 minutes.

Sophomore Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA/New Hampton School) added 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, freshman Ryan Sasso (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick) contributed 11 points and a team-high-tying five rebounds, and first-year point guard Bud Gaffney (Berkley, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) tacked on 10 points and a game-high five assists.

For Fitchburg State, senior Peter Uzoma (Boston, MA/Concord-Carlisle Regional) had team highs of 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, while Graham finished with 16 points and 10 boards. Junior Brian Torres (North Dighton, MA/Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) added 10 points, as he, Graham and Uzoma combined to shoot 18-of-40, while the remainder of the squad went 9-of-28 for 23 points.

The Lyons open their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule on Wednesday at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at 8:00 p.m.

Box Score

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