NORTON, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State College men's basketball team went on a 23-6 run to overcome a double-figure deficit before holding off Wheaton College, 75-74 on Saturday in Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons fell to 6-2, while the Bears improved to 5-1.
In Wheaton's final contest before winter break, the hosts rushed out to a 17-8 advantage by 15:18 of the opening half thanks to 3-of-4 three-point shooting, and a trio of upperclassmen helped extend the lead. Junior Jon Lecznar (Poland, ME) grabbed an offensive board before his putback put the Lyons up 19-10. Senior Mark Sullivan (West Roxbury, MA) later took a charge, snagged an offensive rebound and forced a turnover within a 1:19 span, and junior Jaxon Leo (Leesburg, VA) came down the floor one possession later and nailed a jumper to give Wheaton a 25-10 advantage at 10:35.
Bridgewater State used a 6-2 run to cut its disadvantage to 11 with 9:05 to go, but Leo followed another jumper with a dish to sophomore Bobby Perry (East Providence, RI) for three, giving the Lyons their largest first-half lead, 32-16, with 7:43 to go.
The Bears twice drew within 10 points before the end of the period, scoring 18 points in the final 6:33 after totaling 17 in the opening 13:27, but the Lyons headed into halftime with a 47-35 advantage after shooting 55.9% and outrebounding the visitors, 23-14. Wheaton also went 5-of-10 from three-point range, while the Bears were 0-of-5.
Wheaton maintained its double-digit advantage through the opening 12 minutes of the second half, never leading by more than 16 points, until Bridgewater State began its big run. The Bears trailed 65-52 with fewer than nine minutes remaining before senior Roland Millien (Stoughton, MA) contributed 12 points and six rebounds during the final 8:49, and sophomore Judah Jackson (Everett, MA/Everett) added eight points.
Millien's two freebies at 2:39 knotted the contest at 69, his baseline drive and lay-up at 2:11 gave the Bears a 71-69 edge, and another Millien bucket with 30.3 seconds to go put the visitors on top for good. Two Bridgewater State free throws by junior guard Anthony Goss (Boston, MA) made it 75-71 with 5.1 ticks left before Lyon sophomore Ryan Sasso (Peabody, MA) canned a three with 0.3 seconds remaining, but the Bears inbounded the ball before Wheaton could foul.
Perry led the Lyons with a career-high 19 points, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while dishing out a game-best four assists. Sasso hit all four free-throw attempts en route to 16 points, sophomore Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA) had 12 points, and Leo shot 5-of-7 for 11 points while swatting two shots. Junior Ben Stehle (Newton, MA) snared nine boards for the Lyons, who shot 50.0 percent.
Millien finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, including 16 and nine, respectively, in the second half, while shooting 11-of-14 from the charity stripe. Jackson added 18 points, sophomore Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) had 14 points, 10 boards and four steals, while junior Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) tacked on 10 points. Despite shooting 38.6 percent and going 0-of-10 from three, the Bears were bolstered by 11 steals off 26 Wheaton turnovers. In the second half, the visitors committed only three giveaways while outrebounding the hosts, 24-12.