Men's Basketball (3-1) Splits Pair of Games, Nabs Win at Salve Regina to Begin Week

The Wheaton College men's basketball team went 1-1 last week, notching an 83-75 victory at Salve Regina University on Tuesday before dropping its home opener, 100-97 in double overtime on Thursday against Emerson College. The 197 combined points in the Emerson game were the most in a Lyon contest since a 115-107 quintuple-overtime loss to Babson College on February 18, 1999, when 222 total points were scored.

At Salve Regina, sophomore Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) scored 37 points, the most by a Wheaton underclassman since January 30, 1990, while tying a 19-year-old program record with 15 field goals. He shot 15-of-21 and tallied eight points in the final 2:21 to help the Lyons overcome a one-point deficit. Sophomore Bobby Perry (East Providence, RI/East Providence) totaled 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with five assists and three steals, while junior Ben Stehle (Newton, MA/Newton South) snared 10 boards and had four helpers.

During Wheaton's home opener with Emerson, the Lyons fell to a team that received votes in the national poll for five weeks last year. The teams exchanged the lead 12 times and played through 13 ties, including 11 after halftime. Coppola led Wheaton with 23 points while going 5-of-7 from the charity stripe and snagging a game-high-tying nine rebounds. He reached the 100-point mark for the season, becoming the first Lyon to ever reach the plateau in his team's initial four games. Sophomore Ryan Sasso (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick) turned in 19 points and three steals, while freshman Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, MA/Worcester Academy) collected 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, turning in a 7-of-8 showing on free-throw tries. Stehle shot 7-of-10 for 17 points.

Senior Nick Michel (Hyde Park, MA/Boston Latin School) remained tied for eighth in program history in career blocks (47). Coppola has at least tied for the team lead in scoring 22 times in 29 career games and already surpassed the 600-point plateau in his 29th contest, having averaged 20.7 points thus far. He is two three-pointers shy of Wheaton's career top 10, having knocked down 93.