Worcester, Mass. – Junior Jake Gubitose (Fiskdale, Mass.) buried a baseline jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining in the contest to give Clark University a thrilling 55-53 win over the Wheaton College on Thursday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action.

In a game that saw ten ties and three lead changes, Clark cashed in on the last possession of the game as Gubitose connected for his game-winning jumper off of a feed from junior guard/forward Nicholas DaPrato (Marshfield, Mass.).

Wheaton held a slim, 53-49, lead with 3:15 remaining after Jaycob Morales (Lawrence, Mass.) finished with an acrobatic layup at the rim. Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass.) answered for the Cougars with back-to-back buckets swishing a jump shot at 3:04 and finishing inside at the 1:40 mark to tie up the game at 53-53.

Both teams missed on a combined four field goal attempts and two free throw shots over the next 1:39 before Gubitose canned the final shot of the contest, and his only field goal of the game in 13 minutes of action.

Clark won despite struggling from the field, shooting 37.3-percent from the floor (22-for-59), and 45 percent from the free throw line.

The Lyons outscored the Cougars, 11-4, in points off of turnovers, held a 30-26 advantage in points in the paint and earned a 15-14 differential in bench points. The Cougars outrebounded Wheaton, 47-38, and compiled a 19-11 margin in second chance points.

Brian Johnson (Roxbury, Mass.) nearly posted a double-double with nine points and a season-high 13 rebounds for Wheaton, while Eddie Capstick (Worcester, Mass.) contributed a season-high 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting, two assists and one block. Classmate Mike O'Loughlin (Milford, N.H.) tallied 11 points, three rebounds, two steals and one assist.

Vayda led all players in scoring with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field  to go with nine rebounds, two steals and one assist.

Marcus Armstrong (Malden, Mass.) compiled nine points and five rebounds, one steal and one assist while classmate Jonathan Phillips (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was extremely active on the interior, finishing with seven points and seven rebounds.

Clark (8-5, 2-0 NEWMAC) next travels to Coast Guard on Saturday for a NEWMAC matchup scheduled for 1 p.m.