Men's Basketball Falls to Wheaton, 81-65

NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College men's basketball team posted an 81-65 victory over visiting Bridgewater State University on Tuesday night at Emerson Gymnasium.

Wheaton improves to 8-1 on the season, while Bridgewater State falls to 1-6. The win marked the Lyons first win at home over the Bears since 2004.

Duaka Ekwensi and Riley Tetreault paced Wheaton with 18 points apiece. Ekwensi also collected five rebounds and blocked four shots, while Tetreault grabbed nine boards.

David Carbonello added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Lyons, while Niles Cohen scored 13 points off the bench. Cohen shot 3-4 from three-point range and 5-7 in overall field goals.

Bridgewater State's Corey Green led all players on the court with a career-high 19 points in just 17 minutes off the bench. Green connected on 7 of 11 field goals including 5-for-9 from behind the arc. Rayshon Ward chipped in with 11 points for the Bears in addition to four rebounds and three steals.

Wheaton led 43-23 at the break thanks in part to ten first-half points from Cohen. Ryan Carney helped BSU find their first and only lead of the evening, 8-7, after a made jumper at 15:47. The Lyons then went on an 8-0 run capped off by an Ekwensi dunk to regain the advantage at 15-7. Wheaton continued to pull away for the remainder of the period and reached its largest lead of the stanza on a Carbonello layup with 27 seconds remaining.

The teams exchanged field goals to start the second period before Carbonello and Robby Lowey dropped in back-to-back layups to widen the gap to 24 points at 51-27. Bridgewater State chipped away for the remainder of the contest, actually outscoring the Lyons 42-38 in the second period. The Bears pulled to within 13 points on three separate occasions, but got no closer.

Wheaton shot 55% from the floor (32-58) and converted 14 of 18 (78%) free throw attempts. The Lyons held a 41-28 rebounding advantage and outscored the Bears, 50-20, in the paint.

Bridgewater State connected on 37% (24-65) of its field goal attempts including 8-for-28 (29%) from behind the arc. The Bears went 9-for-10 (90%) at the charity stripe.

Carney contributed nine points and six rebounds for the visitors, while Cole Stairs came off the bench to notch eight points and four caroms (three offensive).

Both teams are back in action on Thursday evening. The Lyons host Lasell College at seven, while the Bears entertain UMass Dartmouth at 7:30.