Lasell Men’s Basketball defeated by Wheaton

NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College men's basketball team collected its seventh straight win Thursday evening with a 68-52 defeat of Lasell College in non-conference action Emerson Gymnasium.

Junior Stefan Masciarelli (Northbridge, Mass.) led all scorers with 21 points for Lasell (2-8), pouring in 17 points in the second half. Sophomore Dylan Murray (Williston, Fla.) and senior Joe O'Brien (Saugus, Mass.) chipped in nine points, while sophomore Vic Collazo (Clearwater, Fla.) ended the night with eight points and a team-high five rebounds.  

Senior Riley Tetreault led the Lyons (9-1) with 19 points, while David Carbonello contributed 16 points after making seven-of-11 from the floor, and Duaka Ekwensi chipped in 15 points and a game-high nine boards.

Wheaton, who trailed just once, held a strong advantage in rebounding, pulling down 43 boards compared to Lasell's 29, knocking down 11-second-chance points.

Sophomore Tommy Beauchemin (Lincoln, R.I.) put the Lasers ahead 3-0 in the opening minute of action, but Wheaton responded with back-to-back free-throws from junior Robby Lowey and a Tetreault jumper. After a Murray jumper pulled Lasell even at 9-9, Wheaton exploded, going on a 20-4 run that was capped off by a Carbonello layup. Wheaton continued to push the pace, taking a 19 point, 45-26, lead into halftime.

Never trailing in the second half, Wheaton pushed its lead to 20 (55-35) on a Niles Cohen jumper with 11:20 remaining. Lasell closed the deficit to 68-52 in the final two minutes on an O'Brien three-pointer, but that would be as close as they would get with neither team scoring the rest of the way. 

Lasell wraps up the first semester of action Saturday with a non-conference contest at Amherst College (2:00 p.m.) The Mammoths (5-1), ranked #19 in this week's d3hoops.com national poll, suffered their first loss of the season Thursday night to Babson, 68-55.

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