WPI 81, MIT 46

Box Score

Worcester, MA --- The WPI men’s basketball team clinched its third consecutive outright New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship with an 81-46 victory over MIT at Harrington Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. WPI (18-5, 9-1 NEWMAC) will host the NEWMAC semifinals and finals on March 1 and 2 for the fifth straight year. MIT dropped its sixth consecutive game to fall to 12-12 and 3-8 in league play.

Junior Jerome Kirkland (Boston, MA) scored all of his 19 points in the first half to lead WPI. Senior Jim Marois (Worcester, MA) had 11 points and senior Ryan Bourque ( Nashua , NH) chipped in with 10 points.

Junior Jimmy Bartolotta (Littleton, CO) was the visitors only double-figure scorer with 21 points and had a team-best nine rebounds for MIT.

WPI was in control from the start. The host Engineers scored the first nine points of the game and kept the visitors off the scoreboard until their first field goal attempt – Bartolotta’s jumper – at the 17-minute mark. WPI then ignited on a 15-7 run sparked by a string of four three-pointers – three from Kirkland – to take a 24-9 lead at 11:19. MIT got to within 14 (14-28) on Daniel McCue’s (Hampden, ME) corner three, but the Crimson and Grey scored 10 of the next 11 points for a 38-15 advantage and took a 26-point margin (50-24) into the locker room. In the first half, WPI shot 60.6% (20-33) from the field and a 58.3% (7-12) clip from beyond the arc.

Bartolotta opened the second half with a conventional three-point play to close MIT’s deficit to 23 (27-50), but WPI’s offense was too much for the visiting Engineers. WPI held its largest lead (74-35) on a trey by Ben Parker (Waterbury , VT) with 6:51 remaining and coasted to the 35-point victory.

MIT held a 35-30 advantage on the glass, but only shot 39.6% from the field to WPI’s 50.8%.

WPI begins the final week of the regular season with a road contest on Wednesday at 7:30pm against at Wheaton . MIT also returns to action on Wednesday, hosting Clark at 7pm.