CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Led by a game-high 23 points from senior Carl Joseph (Brockton, Mass.) men's basketball pulled off the upset of the year as they defeated 11th ranked MIT by the final of 59-52 Tuesday afternoon at Rockwell Cage.
The victory for the Beacons improves their overall record to 6-1, and in doing so hands the Engineers their first loss of the season as they fell to 4-1.
Joseph was the lone UMass player to finish in double-figures, but it was the Beacons defense that really stole the show. The Engineers were held to just 34% shooting from the floor, and turned the ball over a combined 19 times, while the Beacons tallied for 12 steals.
After going into the halftime break holding a three point lead, UMass and MIT battled back-and-forth throughout the second half. By the 13:34 mark the Beacons pushed their lead to four, following a lay-up from Joseph.
MIT would answer right back with a quick 7-0 run to make it 38-35 with 11:03 left to play. On the very next possession, Joseph would cut the deficit to one on a huge field goal. The Engineers pushed their lead back two after Justin Pedley went 1-for-2 at the charity strip.
Moments later, Layo Medina (Brockton, Mass.) hit the biggest jumper of the night to tie the game at 39 all. From there the Beacons defense would force a key turnover, which Joseph turned into and-1 to put UMass back out in front 42-39.
That would then spark a pair of Beacons field goals to make it 46-39 Beacons, with just over seven minutes left in the contest. UMass would continue to maintain a solid lead over the Engineers as time continued to wind down.
The closest MIT would come to regaining the lead came after Pedley drained a 3-pointer to make it 54-50 with 1:48 left in the contest. After a slew of missed opportunities on both sides of the floor, Karl Agenor (Dorchester, Mass.) all but sealed the victory for the Beacons on a key free throw to make it a five-point game.
Ryan Frankel, would keep his team in the hunt with a lay-up to make it just a one possession game, but with only 29 seconds left the Engineers were forced to foul.
With a pair of made free throws from Gregory Young (Dorchester, Mass.) and Agenor, the Beacons secured perhaps their biggest victory in recent memory as they celebrated the 59-52 win.
Joseph's night was impressive on both sides of the hardwood as the Brockton native finished 9-for-16 from the field and 5-for-7 at the line. On the glass, the reigning Little East Conference Player of the Week, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
On top of their strong defensive play, the Beacons truly took advantage of every possession, as they limited their turnovers to a season-low 10. As a team they shot a combined 40.0% (22-for-55) from the field, and 70.0% from the line (14-for-20).
The Engineers had three players finish in double-figures with Pedley scoring a team-best 15 points. Andrew Acker finished with a game-best eight boards, and had 11 points. They also held a 39-34 advantage on the glass.
The Beacons return to action on Saturday when they travel to Keene State College for a 3 p.m. Little East Conference game.