NORTON, Mass.—Junior Tristan Herry (Taunton, Mass.) scored 17 points and Wheaton College built a 17-point first-half lead before holding off a late rally to defeat visiting Babson College, 73-71, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Thursday night inside Emerson Gymnasium. 

Babson, which has split its last four games, drops to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play with the loss. Wheaton picked up its second straight win to improve to 7-7 overall and 2-3 in the NEWMAC. 

Graduate student Alex Stoddard (Wellesley, Mass.) scored a career-high 24 points and first-year Timmy Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) finished with 15 points and three assists to lead the Beavers. Senior Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) contributed 12 points, while first-year Ryan Frauenheim (Manasquan, N.J.) chipped in with 12 points, four assists and two steals in the loss. 

Sophomore Dimetri Iafrate (Johnston, R.I.) finished with 15 points and led all players with nine rebounds and five assists for the Lyons. First-year Sean Perri (West Roxbury, Mass.) knocked down four three-pointers and had 13 points and three assists in the victory. 

Down 37-25 at the break, the Green and White opened the second half with 16-6 run to get within two on a tip-in by sophomore NeJohn Fortes (New Bedford, Mass.) with 13:57 to play. Wheaton answered back with six consecutive points to regain a 49-41 advantage on a hoop by first-year Rex Zadronzny (Cumberland, R.I.) but the Beavers responded with a 12-4 burst that included three-pointers by Stoddard and Mulvey to cut their deficit to 55-53 with 7:00 remaining. 

Herry and junior Eoin Morrissey (Watertown, Mass.) combined for all eight points as the Lyons scored on four consecutive possessions to go back up 62-55 less than 90 seconds later. Stoddard canned a triple and followed up a bucket in the paint by Amado with two free throws to Babson back within three at the 2:33 mark only to see Perri answer with a three-ball on the ensuing possession to stretch the Wheaton lead to 68-62. 

The Beavers were still down five with under a minute to go but Frauenheim buried a three-pointer from the right corner and Amado hit a short jumper to trim the margin to 70-68 with 17 seconds remaining. Frauenheim converted a three-point play with 6.2 seconds to go after Iafrate knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a one point game, but Iafrate went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe with 4.3 ticks left and Frauenheim's potential game-winning three-pointer a the buzzer glanced off the front iron. 

Wheaton dominated the first half shooting 53.8 percent from the floor while making nine three-pointers. The hosts used a 13-2 run to build a 27-12 advantage with under six minutes to go in the stanza and later used a 10-2 spurt to take their largest lead of the game at 37-20 on a triple by Perri with just over a minute to go before halftime. 

The Beavers shot just 39.4 percent from the field and went 9-of-31 (29 percent) from beyond the arc and 6-of-12 (50 percent) at the free throw line in the loss. The Lyons shot 49 percent from the floor and finished with a 38-35 edge on the glass. 

Babson returns to action next Tuesday when it hosts Salve Regina at 7 p.m., while Wheaton takes on Emerson on Saturday at 3 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 42-16 all-time against Wheaton but are just 2-3 over the last five meetings between the teams. 
•    Babson has dropped its first three NEWMAC road games by a total of just eight points. 
•    The Green and White is just 1-5 this season when allowing 70 or more points.