NORTON, Mass. – Senior Noel Hollingsworth (Salt Lake City, Utah) scored 19 points and surpassed the 1,000 career-point plateau as the No. 5 ranked MIT men's basketball team defeated Wheaton College, 85-56, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Wednesday night. The Engineers won for the third straight game to improve to 19-1 and are now 7-1 in the conference.
Hollingsworth's 19 points led all scorers and the reigning NEWMAC Player of the Week also added nine rebounds and four blocks. Juniors Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, N.J.) and Will Tashman (Atherton, Calif.) scored 17 points apiece and senior Billy Bender (The Woodlands, Texas) was also in double figures with 13. Tashman's 11 boards gave the junior his ninth double-double of the season.
The Cardinal and Gray shot nearly 60% from the field (33-57), despite making just four-of-21 attempts from behind the three-point arc, and held the Lyons to 30.6% shooting. Tech also enjoyed a 45-30 advantage on the glass and score 54 points in the paint.
After Ryan Clinesmith (New York, N.Y.) opened the game with a layup, Tech reeled off the next 15 points, getting baskets on seven out of eight possessions. Later in the period, MIT went on a 10-0 run behind back-to-back three-pointers from Bender and senior Daniel McCue (Hampden, Maine) and a pair of layups from Hollingsworth, to open up a 32-7 advantage with just over five minutes to play.
The Engineers would lead 42-20 at the half, as Tashman and Kates combined to score 25 points in the game's first 20 minutes.
Tech picked up where it left off in the second, opening the period on a 7-0 run. The visitors would lead by as many as 31 en route to their 19th win in 20 games.
Hollingsworth reached the milestone midway through the second half and now has 1,007 points in just 53 career games. Kates surpassed the 1,000-point mark in a game against WPI earlier this season and senior Jamie Karraker (Morgantown, W. Va.) needs just eight more points to join the club. Hollingsworth becomes the 25th 1,000-point scorer in program history. Current assistant coach, Bill Johnson, was the most recent to achieve the milestone in 2010.
MIT will be back in action on Saturday, February 4 when it travels to Springfield College. The Engineers will square off against the Pride, who are currently second in the NEWMAC standings at 6-2, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.