Main's sharp shooting leads Wildcats to win
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Junior captain Dan Main (Hopedale, Mass.) scored 20 points and Sherard Robbins (Malden, Mass.) grabbed a game-high 14 boards to the lead the Wheelock College Wildcats to a dramatic 72-66 win over Mount Ida College in front of a packed house at Pine Manor College. The Wildcats shot 9-12 from the free throw line over the last 1:07 of the game to help secure the win. (Above: Dan Main makes a move towards the hoop.)
Wheelock led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Mustangs clawed their way back into the game to close the gap to four at the half. After tying the score twice, Mount Ida took the first lead of the game with 15:14 remaining in the game when Travis Hillery (Tyngsboro, Mass.) dropped in a layup to give the Mustangs a 43-41 lead. Wheelock kept the lead over the next seven minutes of play, until Main converted a Victor Kashouh (Providence, RI) steal into a bucket in the paint to put Wheelock up by one with 7:15 remaining.
Main was clutch from the charity stripe on the night, going 12-15 and nailing 11 of those with two minutes remaining in regulation. Robbins was notched 13 points for Wheelock and now needs only 85 points to hit the 1,000 point mark. Max Kaim (Fort Lauderdale, Fla) and Patsy Dinuzzo (Beaver, Penn.) each had ten points for head coach John Preziosa's team.
Darren Martinez (Dorchester, Mass.) led Mount Ida with 19 points while Hillery and John Figueroa (Hartford, Conn.) scored 13 and ten points, respectively.
The win improves the Wildcats record to 6-2 as they head into the holiday break, while Mount Ida dropped to 6-3 overall. The Mustangs will resume play on January 9th at Johnson and Wales while the Wildcats next travel to Eastern Nazarene on January 5th.
