Degnan critical late, Coppola nets 31 during 90-86 win at Salem State

SALEM, MA- Sophomore Brendan Degnan (Narragansett, RI/Bishop Hendricken) put the Wheaton College men's basketball team ahead with two free throws with 45 seconds remaining before dishing off on the game-icing three-pointer during a 90-86 victory at Salem State College on Saturday in Twohig Gymnasium.

The Lyons moved back to .500 while continuing a five-game stretch during which they are facing four teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The Vikings slipped to 1-8, as Wheaton won on the road against a 2009 Sweet 16 team for the second straight Saturday.

Junior Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) led Wheaton with 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting, while Degnan had 17 points and seven assists while going 11-of-16 from the charity stripe. Senior Ben Stehle (Newton, MA/Newton South) and sophomore Anthony Weeks (Fitchburg, MA/Worcester Academy) each had 13 points and seven rebounds. The Lyons shot 53.8 percent from the floor while attempting 40 free throws, tying for seventh in program history by making 30.

Sophomore Brian Clark (Deerfield, MA/Frontier Regional) had 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting for Salem State, classmate Daniel Clark (Deerfield, MA/Frontier Regional) added 13 points, and freshman Justin Nieves (Lawrence, MA/Lawrence) turned in 12 points. The Vikings shot 51.4 percent but were undone by a 6-of-14 showing at the charity stripe.

Wheaton trailed 69-61 with fewer than eight minutes left before two Degnan freebies capped an 8-0 run and forced the first of six ties over the final 6:44. Coppola's pair of free throws gave the Lyons a 74-73 edge at 5:06, but the hosts took the lead 10 seconds later. The teams went back and forth down the stretch, as Daniel Clark snapped a tie with a three at 3:47, but Coppola hit a jumper to put Wheaton up 81-80 at 2:42. Daniel Clark nailed another trey at 2:33, but Weeks knotted the score at 83 just 20 seconds later.

Degnan knocked down two free throws with 1:10 remaining to put the Lyons up 85-83, but Brian Clark drained a go-ahead triple with 54 seconds left before Degnan went to the line for his game-tying and go-ahead freebies at 45 ticks. Salem State had a chance to tie at 35 seconds, but the Vikings missed a pair of free throws and, after grabbing the offensive board off the second attempt, came up empty on a follow-up shot. Salem State allowed Wheaton to run down the shot clock, but Weeks canned a critical three-pointer off Degnan's pass with 4.2 seconds to go and made it a four-point game.

Wheaton rushed out to an 8-2 advantage to begin the contest behind six points from Coppola, and his bucket at 14:59 kept the Lyons on top 12-7 before the hosts tallied 15 straight points to forge a 22-12 lead by 10:34. The visitors countered with a 9-2 run of their own, making it 24-21 before the Vikings strung together the next eight points. The Blue and White turned a 32-21 deficit into a 38-35 game by scoring 10 of their points during that time from the charity stripe.

Consecutive Coppola hoops made it 42-40 before Salem State tallied two free throws for a 44-40 halftime lead. Coppola led all scorers with 17 points by intermission. Between 15:33 and 10:29 of the second half, neither team led by more than one point, as the lead was exchanged six times prior to the Vikings' lead ballooning out to eight points on Daniel Clark's hoop at 8:39.

Wheaton breaks until just before Christmas, when the Lyons take part in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Holiday Festival in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Blue and White faces the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta on Tuesday, December 22, before squaring off with SUNY Institute of Technology the next day.