Men's Basketball - Bears Drop Regular Season Finale
Jimmy Knudsen had career-highs with 16 points and six rebounds in the loss.
NEW LONDON, CONN.--(2/20/10)--Wheaton used a 17-3 run over a span of 6:40 late in the second half and the Lyons shot 62.5 percent hitting 10 of 16 from 3-point range in the second half to beat Coast Guard 77-63 in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.
Wheaton (10-14, 6-6) secured a home game in the first round of the NEWMAC tournament on Wednesday with the win while Coast Guard (7-15, 4-8), which celebrated Senior Day, dropped its fifth straight and will be the sixth-seed and open the tournament at third-seeded WPI on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
The Lyons led 55-54 with 8:04 left when sophomore Brendan Degnan hit the first of five Wheaton 3-pointers and classmate Anthony Weeks hit the only two-pointer of the run for a 60-54 lead with 5:43 left.
Senior Jaxon Leo and Weeks each hit a pair of 3-pointers, the last by Weeks with 1:24 left to cap the run giving the Lyons a 72-57 edge.
Junior Anthony Coppola led all scorers with 22 points for Wheaton while Weeks had 14 points in the second half and finished with 16 points off the bench.
Senior Ben Stehle had 12 points and nine rebounds while Leo had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Wheaton, which shot 60 percent from the field in the second half (15-25), shot 51.9 percent from the floor (28-54) and 50 percent from 3-point range (14-28) in the game.
Coast Guard used a 15-3 first half run to erase a 25-17 deficit with 6:26 left and take its largest lead of the game 32-28 on a basket by senior Eric Hudson with 1:58 left in the half. The Bears led 32-30 at the break.
The Bears also shot the ball well hitting 44.1 percent from the floor (26-59) and an even better 46.7 percent from 3-point range (7-15).
Hudson led Coast Guard with 18 points and seven rebounds while freshman Jimmy Knudsen had a career-highs with 16 points and six rebounds in the loss.
