NORTON - For the first time in men's basketball history at Wheaton College, the Lyons have the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year - freshman Anthony Coppola of Watertown.

Coppola turned in one of the greatest rookie seasons in Wheaton's 19-year history, becoming just the fifth Lyon to ever score 500 points. He tallied the team's second-highest freshman total with exactly 500 points, which was good for seventh overall.

Coppola also hit a first-year record 85 three-pointers, falling just three shy of the school mark, and his 47.2 shooting percentage from beyond the arc came within 0.1 percent of the school record, the best mark in the NEWMAC.

Named to the second All-NEWMAC Team, Coppola led the Lyons in three-point field goal percentage, scoring (20 ppg) and steals (27). Nationally, he ranks second among all Division III freshmen in three-point shooting and fourth in both scoring and treys per game. Coppola's percentage from long range is sixth best in the country.

Coppola was Wheaton's leading scorer in 18 games, during which time the Lyons won 11 of those. During a 12-game stretch, he racked up four games in which he netted at least 30 points, matching the school rookie record and season-best 36 points against Babson College, four shy of the Lyons' all-time single-game best. His eight three-point field goals in a game against Clark University was one shy of the Wheaton single-game record.

The guard helped Wheaton win nine of its first 10 games en route to an eventual 13-12 mark. The Lyons also became the only squad in the seven-team NEWMAC to advance to the conference tournament semifinals at least nine times.

Coppola was seventh overall in the NEWMAC in field goal shooting, while his 172 field goals were second, the seventh-best single-season total in Wheaton history.