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

March 19, 2008

NORTON, MA- Wheaton College men's basketball standout Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) has been named D3hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the organization's all-region third team. Coppola is Wheaton's first player since Scott Mahan '04 in 2002-03 to be named to a D3hoops.com All-Northeast Region squad. The D3hoops.com awards are voted upon by the region's sports information directors.

Coppola, who corralled top freshman honors from the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) earlier this month, was one of 15 players to land on a D3hoops.com All-Northeast team, as five of the student-athletes hail from NEWMAC institutions. Coppola was the lone underclassman to earn regional honors and became the first player in program history to receive a major postseason award from D3hoops.com.

The first-year shooting guard turned in one of the top freshman campaigns in the program's 19-year history, becoming the fifth Lyon to score 500 points. He tallied the team's second-highest freshman total with exactly 500 points, 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.

Coppola led the team in three-point shooting, scoring (20.0) and steals (27). Nationally, he ranks second among all Division III freshmen in three-point percentage and fourth in both scoring and threes 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. Coppola was seventh in field goal shooting, while his 172 field goals were second. His 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 by Mahlon Williams '95 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, as the Lyons won nine of their first 10 games. The Blue and White also became the only squad in the seven-team NEWMAC to advance to the conference tournament semifinals at least nine times. Wheaton fell in the league semifinals to eventual champion United States Coast Guard Academy, which advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 3/19/08.
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