BOX SCORE

NORTON, Mass. -- Junior Ben Stehle (Newton, MA/Newton South) recorded his fourth career double-double and help the Wheaton College men's basketball team pick up its first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) win of the season, 71-46 over visiting Babson College on Wednesday evening in Emerson Gymnasium. The Lyons improved to 9-6 overall and 1-1 in the league in downing a Beaver squad that had fallen by just seven points to ninth-ranked Amherst College on Monday. The visitors fell to 8-7 and 0-3 in dropping their fourth straight game.

In a series that had been decided by 11 points or fewer in nine of the past 10 contests, Wheaton led by double digits for the final 24:14 and pushed its advantage out to as many as 26 during the second stanza. Stehle finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds.

Wheaton scored on its first two shots and grabbed its fourth four-point lead at 10-6 on sophomore Ryan Sasso's (Peabody, MA/Bishop Fenwick) bucket at the 15:07 mark of the opening period. The Beavers then scored the next five points in a 22-second span to grab their first advantage, 11-10, on sophomore Eric White's (Hyattsville, MD/The Barrie School) lay-up at 14:13. That proved to be the first of four lead swings during a 2:15 stretch, and the Lyons went back in front for good on freshman Shawn Daily's (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Saint Michael Academy) basket at 11:58, which made the score 14-13.

With the Lyons holding on to a two-point edge, the hosts scored nine straight points to go up 26-15, as sophomore Anthony Coppola (Watertown, MA/Watertown) tallied the first six before Stehle converted a three-point play. Before the end of the opening period, Wheaton twice pushed its lead to 13, first on a Stehle three at 3:32 and again on a Sasso trey with 53 seconds to play.

Wheaton took a 34-21 advantage into the locker room behind 48.4 percent shooting and an 18-12 edge on the glass, while Babson shot 36.8 percent and went 6-of-11 on free-throw tries. Coppola and Stehle each scored 10 points in the opening stanza.

After a Babson three cut the Lyons' advantage to 34-24 early in the second half, a 15-5 run by the hosts gave them their first 20-point lead at 13:28 on a Daily bucket, and Wheaton was never threatened from there. The Blue and White shot 59.1 percent in the stanza while holding Babson to just 24.1 percent.

Coppola finished with 13 points and a game-high five assists, while Sasso shot 4-of-6 en route to 10 points and four helpers. Eight other Lyons contributed between two and six points. The Lyons totaled a 38-26 advantage on the boards while shooting 52.8 percent and limiting the Beavers to a 29.2-percent clip. Wheaton also went 9-of-11 at the charity stripe.

Senior Pat Belniak (Sutton, MA/Sutton) paced Babson with eight points and five rebounds, while classmate Zach Etten (Hollis, NH/Hollis Brookline) had seven points, six boards and four steals. Playing their third road game in five days, the Beavers were hampered by poor shooting all night, hitting just 14 of 48 field goal attempts (29.2 percent) and only 11 of 25 from the free throw line (56.0 percent). Babson will now enjoy a full week off before returning to action with its fourth straight road tilt - a 7 p.m. game at WPI - next Wednesday.

NOTE: Taken from a Wheaton College press release.