| WPI Engineers Outlast MIT
En Route to Second NEWMAC Men's Basketball Championship
Courtesy MIT Sports Information
WORCESTER, Mass. - Ryan Flynn tallied a team-high 20 points on 7-of-7
shooting as host WPI captured its second consecutive NEWMAC Tournament
Championship with a 69-56 victory over MIT on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, WPI earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III
Championships with the 59-team bracket due to be released late Sunday
night or early Monday morning.
WPI (22-3) held a narrow advantage for the first
14 minutes before Danny Kanamori drained a three-pointer to give
MIT (20-8) its only lead of the game at 20-19. WPI quickly responded
with a 12-0 run highlighted by a three-pointer and a lay-up by point
guard Brett Dickson and a traditional three-point play and thunderous
dunk by Antoine Coleman. WPI took a 37-26 advantage into the locker
room at half.
The two teams played a tightly contested second
half with MIT getting as close as eight points, but never trailing
by more then 16. MIT struggled to find its range from three-point
land, connecting on only 5-of-27 shots from behind the arc.
Dickson added 12 points for WPI while Coleman hit
double figures with 11 points to go along with six rebounds. Brian
Steele and Ryan Cain each amassed nine points and five rebounds
while Ryan Bourque corralled a team-best seven boards.
Freshman Jimmy Bartolotta topped all players with
21 points and 11 rebounds for MIT, while Mike D'Auria chipped in
with 13 points. Alex Krull added 10 points and five rebounds and
Hamidou Soumare hauled in seven boards. Last season, WPI made its
first appearance in the NCAA Championships in nearly twenty years,
advancing to the sectionals before losing to eventual national semifinalist
York (PA).
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