New London, CT --- Senior Ryan Kolb (Southington, CT) led all scorers with 23 points to go with his team-high eight rebounds as #4 WPI held off upset minded Coast Guard 71-65 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

WPI won its 14th straight tying the second longest winning streak in school history. The Engineers improve to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in conference play while Coast Guard drops to 4-14 overall and 1-6 on the season.

Sophomore Zach Karalis (Andover, MA) added 12 points while junior Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) and junior Domenick Mastascusa (North Reading, MA) each added ten points in the win for WPI.

Coast Guard, looking to beat WPI in the regular season for the first time since 2006, had its largest lead of the game 16-11 with 13:19 left in the first half before Kolb scored seven straight to give WPI at 18-16 lead with 11:40 left in half.

The Bears used a 7-0 run of their own later in the half to take a 31-26 lead following a 3-pointer by freshman Jordan Lachowsky with 1:56 left.

The Engineers would score six of the final eight points in the first half and Coast Guard led 33-32 at the break in a first half which saw the game tied 12 times.

Coast Guard led 42-38 following a 3-pointer by junior David Anderson (Goose Creek, SC) with 15:40 left before WPI scored nine straight, the first four by Karalis, for a 47-42 edge with 12:47 left.

WPI pushed the lead to 54-47 with 9:40 left and they never let the Bears get closer than four the rest of the way.

Sophomore Ricky Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela) led Coast Guard with 13 points while senior Devonte Weems (Chesapeake Beach, MD) added 11 points and senior John Benedict(Cumming, GA) had ten points for the Bears. Sophomore Kevin Alvarez (Key Biscayne, FL) had a career-high eight rebounds to lead Coast Guard.

The Engineers shot 43.4 percent from the field (23-53) while hitting just 2 of 14 from 3-point range.

Coast Guard shot 41.7 percent from the floor (20-48) and the Bears were 6 of 16 from behind the arc.

The Bears held a slight 34-31 lead on the boards.

Coast Guard is back in action on Sunday when they host Wheaton at 1pm while WPI entertains Springfield the same day at 3pm

Release Courtesy Coast Guard Sports Information