The Beaver offense dashed out to a quick five-point lead to start the game, but thanks to the shooting of sophomore Brian Zukowski (Dracut, MA/Dracut), who scored Wheaton's first 10 points of the contest and 16 in the half, the Lyons were able to knot the score at 10-10. Babson began to pull ahead slowly, but a spurt of two Sean Kelly (Providence, RI/Wheeler School) baskets and a Zukowski steal and bucket brought the score to 24-23 with 8:55 to play. From there, the Beavers began to build a lead they would maintain, led by senior captain Dan Elliman (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury), who scored 10 of Babson's final 20 points to finish with 11 points. The highlight of the first half, however, was the Beavers impressive shooting, as the team finished the stanza an astounding 18-of-24 (.750) from the field. Trailing 44-32 with 1:16 on the clock, Wheaton senior Josean Vega (Pawtucket, RI/St. Raphael's) ended the half with four quick points to narrow the hosts' gap to eight heading into the locker room.
The Beavers began building on their eight-point halftime lead early in the second stanza, as senior CJ Enere (Hyde Park, MA/Lexington) scored the first five points of the stanza for the visitors. The Lyons brought the game back to within eight at 47-39, but a 7-0 Babson spurt capped by a Geoff Ponitz (Oakland, ME/Phillips Exeter) jumper gave the Beavers their biggest lead of the game with 17:02 to play. Vega snapped back with eight quick points, thanks to a conventional three-point-play, a three-pointer and a lay up, to make the score 54-47 with 14:32 left. Elliman and Enere responded and helped extend the Beaver lead to 63-50, but clutch treys from junior James Greenslit (Framingham, MA/Rivers School) and Vega kept the Lyons within striking distance.
After a couple of failed comeback attempts and Wheaton trailing 70-58 with 7:16 remaining, the Lyons were finally able to come up with some key stops on defense, which launched them into a daunting scoring drive over the final seven minutes of play. Highlighted by a pair of Zukowski threes, the Lyons rattled off twelve straight points to knot the score at 70-70 and take their first lead of the game at the 2:18 mark, as Vega converted a conventional three-point play to make the score 75-72. Babson was unable to convert anything offensively down the stretch, as the Wheaton defense forced the Beavers to miss six straight shots. In the end Babson was forced to foul, as Kelly and Zukowski combined for three freebies in the closing seconds to capture the thrilling comeback victory.
Zukowski led all scorers with a career-high 29 points on an outstanding 9-of-13 shooting performance, including making 4-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc and 7-of-9 from the foul line. Vega totaled a season-high 23 points, going 7-of-17 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, while Kelly rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14 points, nine assists and a career-high tying six steals. His six steals places him first on Wheaton's all-time single-season steal chart with 58 to date.
Enere amassed 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor to lead Babson, including a 10-of-12 performance from the free throw line, while Elliman accounted for 19 points (6-11 FG) and a team-best four steals.
Wheaton closes out its regular season home schedule on Saturday, February 5 against NEWMAC foe Springfield College. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score Babson College vs Wheaton College 2/1/05 7:00 p.m. at Emerson Gymnasium, Norton, Mass. At Emerson Gymnasium, Norton, Mass. WHEATON COLLEGE 78, BABSON COLLEGE 72 BABSON COLLEGE (7-12, 1-5) CJ Enere 6-12 10-12 22; Dan Elliman 6-11 6-8 19; Geoff Ponitz 3-6 0-2 6; David Votta 2-4 0-0 5; Phil Riffe 2-5 0-0 5; Brooks Brown 2-3 0-0 4; Greg Bush 2-5 0-0 4; Kyle McDonald 2-3 0-0 4; Brandon Eigenberg 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 26-51 16-22 72. WHEATON COLLEGE (15-4, 6-2) Brian Zukowski 9-13 7-9 29; Josean Vega 7-17 7-8 23; Sean Kelly 5-7 4-5 14; James Greenslit 2-3 0-0 5; Brent DiGiovanna 1-1 1-2 3; Mark Ledwell 1-3 1-4 3; Eric Johnston 0-0 1-2 1; David Harding 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Stanton 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 21-30 78. Babson College................ 44 28 - 72 Wheaton College............... 36 42 - 78 3-point goals-Babson College 4-12 (Dan Elliman 1-2; Brandon Eigenberg 1-1; Phil Riffe 1-4; David Votta 1-2; Geoff Ponitz 0-1; CJ Enere 0-2), Wheaton College 7-16 (Brian Zukowski 4-6; Josean Vega 2-5; James Greenslit 1-1; Mike Stanton 0-4). Fouled out--Babson College-Greg Bush; David Votta; Dan Elliman, Wheaton College-None. Rebounds-Babson College 19 (Brooks Brown 6), Wheaton College 34 (Mark Ledwell 9). Assists-Babson College 17 (CJ Enere 4), Wheaton College 13 (Sean Kelly 9). Total fouls-Babson College 23, Wheaton College 16. A-300