Worcester, MA --- Nationally-ranked WPI used a 19-0 spurt midway through the first half to defeat visiting Coast Guard 69-45 in a NEWMAC men's basketball contest played in Harrington Auditorium on Thursday evening.  

The Engineers, sixth in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25, have won five straight and up their record to 16-2 and 6-1 in conference play, remaining in a three-way tie with Babson and MIT atop the league.  Coast Guard dips to 5-13 on the year and 1-6 in NEWMAC tilts.    

The Bears lead for the only time 9-8 following a Kevin Alvarez (Key Biscayne, FL) 3-pointer six minutes into the contest.  WPI then rattled off 19 straight over the next 9:11 spearheaded by 12 points by the freshman trio of Aaron Todd (York, ME), Obi Obiora (Brookline, MA) and Shane Farley (Burlington, MA).  The Engineers defense forced Coast Guard to misfire on seven straight attempts and commit nine turnovers during the run. The visitors managed to end the first half with a mini 6-0 run thanks to Mark Elliott's (Lorton, VA) five points and trailed 30-18 at the break. 

WPI opened its lead to 20 points (38-18) early in the second half on a fast break layup by Longwell before the Bears embarked on a 16-4 run to dwindle the Engineer lead to just eight (42-34). Alvarez would score eight points during the spurt.  WPI turned to its defense from that point forward, holding CGA to just 28.6% shooting from the floor and forcing 21 turnovers on the night. 

Sam Longwell led all players with 17 points and eight rebounds.  The senior flirted with a double-double after recording WPI's first triple-double in a decade in the Crimson and Gray's last outing Saturday at home versus Wheaton.  Longwell was the only Engineer in double figures in scoring asDomenick Mastascusa (North Reading, MA) and Zach Karalis (North Andover, MA) had nine points each and Sean Doncaster (Medford, MA) and Obiora pitched in with eight points apiece.    Doncaster has a solid all-around game with a game-best six assists to go along with five rebounds and eight points while Mastascusa corralled seven boards, including six on the defensive end. 

Alvarez tossed in a team-best 16 for the Bears, including a trio of 3-poitners, while Elliot ended with seven and Darius Adams (Nassau, Bahamas) amassed six.    

Both teams kickoff the second half of the conference schedule with road games on Saturday.  WPI heads to Springfield for a 7pm match-up with the Pride while Coast Guard ventures to Norton to face the Lyons at 1pm.

A photo posted by WPI Athletics (@wpiathletics) on Jan 29, 2015 at 9:07pm PST

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