THE BASICS:
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- Score: MIT 90, Wheaton College 79
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- Records: MIT (10-7, 3-4 NEWMAC); Wheaton College (5-13, 0-7 NEWMAC)
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- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)
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- The Lead: Led by a game-high 29 points from senior
Ian Hinkley (Raleigh, N.C.) and 17 made three-pointers, the MIT men's basketball team improved to 7-3 at home this season with a 90-79 wire-to-wire win over Wheaton College.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
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- The Engineers got off to another quick start, surging to a 26-8 lead midway through the first half as Hinkley drilled a three-pointer. Wheaton cut the advantage down to single digits at 30-22 behind a 14-4 run, capped by a fastbreak layup from
Marckenley Lima. MIT took an eventual 37-27 lead into the halftime break as the team shot 45.2 percent from the field in the period.
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- Early in the second, a three-pointer by
Evan Cook cut the margin to 37-32 and the Lyons continued to trail by single digits at 48-39 with 15:46 left in the game. MIT extended the advantage to as many as 20 on a Hinkley three that made it 76-56 with just under seven minutes left.
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- The Lyons got back to within eight with under two minutes left, but MIT connected on six free throws over the rest of regulation for the 11-point final margin.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
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- In addition to Hinkley's 29-point effort, first-year
Kade Killeen (Austin, Texas) tallied 17 points in 26 minutes off the bench, while junior
Alex Cho (San Diego, Calif.) nearly registered a triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
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- Wheaton had four players in double figures, led by 23 points from
Alex Carlisle. Cook finished with 16 points and four steals, along with 15 points from
Aaron Williams and 10 points off the bench by
Jaden Keliher.
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- The Engineers outscored the Lyons 51-15 from three-point land and had 26 assists overall on 29 made field goals. In addition, MIT forced 17 Wheaton turnovers and outscored the Lyons by a 33-17 margin from the bench. The Lyons did shoot 57.6 percent from the field in the second half and for the game outscored MIT 34-20 in the paint.
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UP NEXT:
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- The Engineers are back in action on Saturday, January 29th when the team travels to Clark University for a 3 p.m. NEWMAC matchup. Please note that no spectators will be permitted at the game.
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