Coppola earns team's first league rookie honor, named to second team

March 4, 2008

WORCESTER, MA- Wheaton College men's basketball standout Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) became the program's first freshman to earn New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Rookie-of-the-Year honors and be selected to an all-conference team, as he was named to the second squad during Tuesday's postseason meeting at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The men's team has had at least one all-conference winner in each of the NEWMAC's 10 years.

Coppola turned in one of the top freshman campaigns in the program's 19-year history, becoming just the fifth Lyon to ever score 500 points. He tallied the team's second-highest freshman total with exactly 500 points, which was good for seventh overall. Coppola also hit a first-year-record 85 three-pointers, falling just three shy of the school mark, and his 47.2 shooting percentage from beyond the arc came within 0.1 percent of the program standard.

Tabbed NEWMAC Player of the Week twice this winter, Coppola led the team in three-point field goal percentage, scoring with 20.0 points per game and steals with 27. Nationally, he ranks second among all Division III freshmen in three-point shooting and fourth in both scoring and treys per game. Coppola's percentage from long range is sixth best in the country.

Coppola led the squad in scoring 18 times, breaking the freshman record of 17 set during Wheaton's first varsity season in 1989-90. He also paced the team in scoring a NEWMAC-best eight times in league play. Coppola led all conference players during league action in three-point percentage and was second for all games. He was also tops in three-pointers and threes per game and second in scoring. The shooting guard was seventh in field goal shooting, while his 172 field goals were second. Coppola's field goal total was the seventh highest in program history.

In the 18 games Coppola led the team in scoring, the Lyons went 11-7. During a 12-game stretch, he racked up four games in which he netted at least 30 points, matching the school standard set during the 1994-95 season. His season-best 36 points against Babson College on February 9 were four shy of the program mark, while the eight threes he drained versus Clark University on January 23 came within one of the school record.

Coppola helped lead Wheaton to a 13-12 record this winter, as the Lyons won nine of their first 10 games. The Lyons also became the only squad in the seven-team NEWMAC to advance to the conference tournament semifinals at least nine times. Wheaton fell to eventual champion United States Coast Guard Academy. The Blue and White was 3-9 in league play.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 3/4/08.
Questions about this page? Use our query form.

News Headlines

Coppola captures D3hoops.com regional rookie-of-the-year honor (more)

Coppola earns team's first league rookie honor, named to second team (more)

2008 NEWMAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT - Seventh-seeded Lyons unable to fend off third seed Coast Guard, 68-56 (more)