Norton, Mass. - February 5, 2022 - The Springfield College men's basketball team suffered a 82-77 setback at Wheaton College on Saturday in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday. 

The loss dipped the Pride to 5-14, 3-7 against conference foes, while Wheaton improved to 7-14, 2-8. 

Springfield shot 50% from the field, connecting on 29-of-58 attempts, led by 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists from Jacob Morales (Montvale, N.J.).  Nick Bray (Hartford, Conn.) scored 12 points and Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) added 11 points in his return to the lineup.

For the hosts, Marckenley Lima and Ty Murphy combined for 34 points as Wheaton knocked down a season-best 14 three-pointers on 27 attempts for a 51.9% clip. The home team out-rebounded its guests by a 38-29 count, including 13 offensive boards that led to an 11-2 second chance point margin, which spelled the difference in the game.

The Pride raced out to a 13-3 advantage just over five minutes into the opening half, including eight points from Zeke Blauner (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) and later increased their lead to 16-5 at the 13:22 mark.

Wheaton pulled to within a possession, following an 11-3 burst that cut the margin to 19-16, and stayed within 21-18 with 7:34 to play in the half. Springfield responded by taking its biggest lead of the day when Panayiotis Kapanides (Bedford, Mass.) paced a 13-4 stretch with a pair of three-balls to give the Pride a 34-22 advantage with 4:18 showing on the second half clock. 

The Lyons roared back with eight unanswered points, including treys from Lima and Murphy, to cut the deficit to a manageable 38-34 at the intermission.

Bray canned a triple just 12 seconds into the second half to give Springfield a 41-34 cushion, but Wheaton chipped away with a 15-7 stretch, capped by Khaled Thaher's second three of the run to give the Lyons their first lead of the game at 49-48 with 15:38 on the second half clock. Wheaton expanded its lead to 58-52 with 12:08 remaining in the contest and maintained a 64-58 showing with just a tick over 10 minutes to play, before the Pride went on their run to take their final lead of the game.

Bray drilled a three-pointer to cap a 10-2 run to reclaim the lead for the Pride at 68-66 with 6:03 to play in the second half. The Lyons showed their fight, ripping off seven straight points as part of a 12-2 stretch, fueled by a pair of trifectas from Lima, to give them their biggest lead of the day at 78-70 with 2:26 showing in the half. Springfield stayed in the game and received a driving lay-up from Bray to cut the deficit to 78-75 with 49 ticks left in the game, but it was as close as the visitors would get.

Springfield returns home for a conference game versus Babson on Wednesday at 7 pm.

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