Weekly Lyon

Men's Basketball (19-10, 6-6) Sweeps ECAC Tournament, Earns Second Straight Title

The sixth-seeded Wheaton College men's basketball team swept a trio of higher seeds during last week's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament to become the first team to win ECAC New England championships in consecutive seasons since Amherst College in 1994-95 and 1995-96. In a pair of games moved to Wheaton's Emerson Gymnasium due to scheduling conflicts, the Lyons defeated number three Emmanuel College, 82-65 on Wednesday before downing second-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 84-77 on Friday. In a rematch of last year's title tilt, the Blue and White took down number four Rhode Island College, 83-78 on the road. Wheaton finished the season with 19 wins for the third time in four seasons and notched at least 17 for the fourth year in a row. Junior Brian Zukowski (Dracut, MA/Dracut) earned the tournament's most outstanding player honor after averaging 24.3 points over three games, knocking down 60 percent of his three-point attempts (15-25) and canning all 22 of his tries from the charity stripe. He will enter his senior season two points shy of the 1,000-point plateau, which senior Sean Kelly (Providence, RI/Wheeler School) reached against Emmanuel.

Kelly's 1,000th point highlighted the Lyons' win over Emmanuel during the first round of the ECAC Tournament. With the hosts up, 13-12, freshman Kristopher Pedra (Avon, CT/Avon) finished off a run of scoring seven straight Wheaton points to spark a game-changing 17-2 jaunt over a 5:26 span. Six different Lyons scored as the Blue and White pulled to a 30-14 advantage. Freshman Nick Michel (Hyde Park, MA/Boston Latin School) dropped in a lay-up to give the Lyons a 20-point lead, 44-24 at 2:32 and cap a 12-2 run. The Saints scored the next nine points and Emmanuel trailed only 44-33 with 46 seconds left in the half, but Kelly netted the final three points of the stanza, including the 1,000th of his career after corralling a loose ball and scooping home a breakaway lay-up with less than a second remaining to make the score 47-33. The Lyons slowly pulled away in the second half, as Kelly played a hand in 14 straight Wheaton points during a 5:23 span to help the hosts maintain a sizeable lead. The Lyons led by as much as 22 before the final buzzer sounded, as the Saints never trailed by less than 11 points during the second half. Kelly netted a game-high 26 points while contributing six rebounds and game highs of five assists and five steals. Zukowski went 8-of-8 on free throws and finished with 16 points and four steals, while sophomore Brent DiGiovanna (Hanover, MA/Hanover) picked up 11 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Wheaton finished with a 45 percent clip from the floor against the sixth-best field goal defense in Division III and went 21-of-32 from the charity stripe.

Wheaton's semifinal contest with MIT began as a three-point shootout before the Lyons used the best free throw shooting performance in school history to hold on for victory. With the win, the Lyons moved to 10-0 all time in postseason games at Emerson Gymnasium. Nine of the first 10 baskets the teams scored were from long range, and the hosts used a pair of 11-0 runs in the first half to forge leads. Clinging to a 20-19 edge at 9:33, Wheaton rattled off 11 straight points by four different players for a 10-point edge with 6:52 left. The Lyons carried a 39-28 lead into the break after knocking down 8-of-12 shots from beyond the arc. In the second half, Wheaton led by as many as 15 points thanks to a pair of Zukowski free throws at 7:58. The Engineers went on a 14-2 run during a 2:44 stretch to draw within 61-58 with just over five minutes to go, but a three-pointer from senior James Greenslit (Framingham, MA/The Rivers School) and two Zukowski free throws pushed the Wheaton lead back to eight at 3:59. The Engineers got no closer than four the rest of the way, as the Lyons hit 13-of-14 free throws in the final 1:33. The Blue and White sank a program-record 96 percent of its free throws by hitting 24-of-25 shots, including 21-of-22 in the second half. Zukowski nailed his first five three-point attempts and turned in 28 points, going 7-of-13 from the field, including 6-of-11 from deep, and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. Kelly contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Greenslit finished with 11 points, and sophomore Jake Otto (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) added 10 points.

The Lyons capped their ECAC Tournament victory at Rhode Island College thanks to another stellar shooting effort and Kelly's school-record 13 assists in his final collegiate game. Wheaton used an early 12-2 run to turn a five-point deficit into a five-point lead, and Zukowski gave the visitors their largest first-half lead at 29-15 on a three-pointer with 6:36 to go. Wheaton led by 13 with less than six minutes remaining in the contest before the Anchormen used a 17-5 run to pull within 76-75 with 38 seconds left, but the Lyons went 7-of-8 on freebies over the final 24 seconds to ice the win. Zukowski tied his career high with 29 points, hitting a career-best seven three-pointers on 10 attempts to go along with four assists and two steals. He recorded the fifth-highest point total in program history with 508 this season and hit his final 23 free throw attempts, as well as 41 of his last 44. Kelly returned to his hometown and eclipsed his own single-game helpers mark by one. The point guard added nine points, six rebounds and three steals, as he also broke his own single-season program mark with 183 assists and reached 100 steals for the season. He will graduate as Wheaton's career leader in assists (566) and steals (267) and as the Lyons' ninth all-time leading scorer (1,038). In his final collegiate game, Greenslit missed his career high by just one point in tallying 16 on 4-of-6 three-point shooting while grabbing six rebounds, and DiGiovanna netted 13 points. The Lyons turned in one of the top shooting performances in program history, going 13-of-21 from three-point territory and 30-of-52 from the field. Wheaton's 61.9 percent three-point shooting tied for sixth in the school's annals, and its 13 three-pointers tied for fourth most. The Blue and White finished the game shooting a season-best 57.7 percent in winning its sixth straight ECAC Tournament game, having gone 8-1 in the tournament over the past three seasons.

Synchronized Swimming Places Third Among 10 Teams at East Collegiate Regional

The Wheaton College synchronized swimming team notched a third-place finish among 10 teams on Saturday at the East Collegiate Regional, hosted by the Lyons at Balfour Natatorium. The Blue and White trailed only Canisius College and Keuka College.

Wheaton scored top marks in a pair of figures categories, as junior Elizabeth Corman (Saint Paul, MN/Hill-Murray School) won B figures and classmate Sarah Swinkin (Hamden, CT/Hamden) gave the top C figures performance. The Lyons drew top-five scores three times during routines, as well a pair of narrow sixth-place finishes. During the duet portion of the day, sophomore Esther Kovacs (Windham, NH/Academy of Notre Dame) and freshman Sylvia Syracuse (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore West) teamed for a third-place showing, finishing just five points behind the second-place tandem. Corman, Kovacs, Swinkin and Syracuse joined sophomore Megan Kinney (Los Angeles, CA/Marlborough School) to finish third in the team category, while Kovacs corralled a fifth-place solo showing. The team of junior Renata Paglio (Portland, ME/Deering), sophomores Perri Kapp (Yarmouth Port, MA/Dennis-Yarmouth Regional), Ru-Huey Yen (Des Moines, IA/Abraham Lincoln) and Ru-Shyan Yen (Des Moines, IA/Abraham Lincoln) and freshman Kelly Maby (Woodhaven, NY/Richmond Hill) finished sixth, just two points behind a pair of fourth-place teams. Corman, Kinney and Swinkin came up 0.5 points short of fifth place during the trio competition.

Trio of Track and Field Records Fall at Pair of Weekend Meets

The Wheaton College men's and women's indoor track and field teams saw three school marks fall over the weekend, as both teams competed at the Last Chance Qualifier at Yale University's Coxe Cage on Friday before the Lyon men took part in Saturday's IC4A Championship at Boston University.

Junior Jennifer Harlow (East Bridgewater, MA/East Bridgewater) led the women with victories in the 55-meter hurdles and high jump. Harlow's 8.44 finish in the 55M hurdles set a personal best, provisionally qualified her for the NCAA meet and was just 0.19 seconds off an automatic time for the national championship. The All-American's jump of 5' 6" marked the eighth time in nine meets this winter that she met at least provisional qualification for the NCAA Division III Championship. The Lyons' distance medley relay team smashed the four-year-old school mark by 4.46 seconds, as senior Kendra Leith (Holden, MA/Wachusett Regional), sophomore Megan Brousseau (Attleboro, MA/Attleboro), and freshmen Lily Calderwood (Harvard, MA/Bromfield School) and Chizoba Ezeigwe (Brockton, MA/Thayer Academy) met provisional qualification for the national meet with a time of 12:04.89. A pair of athletes picked up fifth-place finishes, as sophomore Joell Whitley (Magnolia, NJ/Triton Regional) turned in a long jump distance of 16' 5 1/2" during her first competition of the year, and freshman Morgan Jamiel (Warwick, RI/Toll Gate) notched a season-best time of 8.87 during the finals of the 55M hurdles.

During the men's competition on Friday, freshman Michael Wright (Baldwin, NY/Uniondale) matched the school record he set on January 20 with a 6.50 finish to cap a second-place showing in the 55-meter dash finals. The time allowed Wright to meet provisional NCAA qualification for the second time this winter. On Saturday, Wright joined senior Ajay Sisodia (Andover, MA/Andover) and freshmen Jonathan Cunha (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and Victor Martinez (Exeter, NH/Phillips Exeter Academy) as the 4x400-meter relay team broke the school mark it set last weekend and automatically qualified for the NCAA meet. The Lyons shaved 2.89 ticks off the program standard and finished their trials heat in 3:13.31. Sisodia was the top Division III athlete in the 400-meter dash, which he finished in 48.48 to provisionally qualify for the national meet.

This weekend, qualifiers from both of Wheaton's indoor track and field teams will compete at the NCAA Division III Championship, hosted by Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 1/30/07.
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