WPI 59, Coast Guard 55

Box Score  

New London, CT --- NT Izuchi (Boston, MA) totaled a team-high 12 points and Ben Etten (Hollis, NH) notched his first career double-double to lift WPI to a 59-55 victory over host Coast Guard Wednesday evening in the NEWMAC opener for both teams.  WPI ups its record to 9-3 while the Bears fall to 7-4.

WPI which led by as many as 13 in the first half at 33-20 held a 33-25 lead at halftime. The Engineers took the lead for good, 10-9, on a free throw by Etten with 15:28 left in the first half.

Coast Guard  which has now dropped five straight regular season games to WPI, scored seven straight capped on a 3-pointer by freshman Theo Jensen (Doylestown, PA), to pull to within 45-41 with 12:11 left in the game.

Jensen hit his only other 3-pointer of the game with 3:27 left cutting the WPI lead to 52-50 with 3:27 left.

The Bears had three chances to tie or take the lead, but turned it over and missed a pair of shots on its next three possessions before Etten scored with 1:09 left giving the Engineers a 54-50 lead.

Junior Eric Hudson (Pasadena, CA) hit his only 3-pointer of the game with 20 seconds left as the Bears cut the lead to 56-53 and then senior Craig Johnson (Medford, OR) stole the inbounds pass before turning it over and senior Jerome Kirkland (Boston, MA) made a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to ice the game.

Johnson finished with a game-high 20 points to go with his eight rebounds while Hudson had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds in the loss. 

Coast Guard shot 38.5 percent from the floor (20-52) while making six of 19 from 3-point range. WPI shot a season-low 32.7 percent from the floor (18-55) while connecting on six of 15 from 3-point range.

Jerome Stewart (Bloomfield, CT) led an impressive WPI effort of the bench with 10 points as the WPI reserves outscored their Coast Guard counterparts 24-6.  Fellow freshman Fernando Perez (Lowell, MA) added six first half points for the Crimson and Gray.

The win helped the Engineers extract some revenge for the past two NEWMAC Tournament championship games, won by the Bears in Worcester. 

Both squads are back in action on Saturday with 1pm NEWMAC match-ups.  WPI entertains Springfield while Coast Guard heads to Clark.

Major Portion of Release Courtesy Coast Guard Sports Information