Framingham, MA --- The WPI men's basketball team jumped out to a commanding lead early in the first half and never looked back defeating Framingham State by a score of 90-38 Saturday afternoon in Framingham.
It was the final contest for the Crimson and Gray before NEWMAC play. WPI concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 9-2 record while the Rams dip to 1-11 overall.
The Engineers scored the contest's first 17 points with Garrett Stephenson (Townsend, MA) scoring eight of the Engineers 17 tallies. Tajahn Joyner (Amherst, MA) finally got the Rams on the board but the visitors kept rolling leading 49-15 at the break behind 13 first half points from Jake Needleman (Morganville, NJ) and 10 more from Stephenson.
WPI continued its offensive prowess in the second half while also keeping the Rams offense to just 26% from the floor for the game. The Engineers would push their lead to as much as 56 late in the game.
Needleman finished with 13 points and nine boards while and Stephenson added a game-high 16 points with four boards and three helpers. Kahleb Downing (Middletown, CT) and Ethan Harrell (Wexford, PA) both chipped in 15 points apiece for WPI. Needleman corralled a career-high seven rebounds while rookie John Lowther (Hingham, MA) also achieved new career-bests in points (8), rebounds (7) and assists (4). John Gates (Hingham, MA) and Charles Considine (Pembroke, MA) also set new career-highs with six and five points respectively.
The Rams were led by Jared Gordon-Anderson (Framingham, MA) who had a team-best 10 points adding two steals.
The Engineers shot 49% from the floor and 41% from long range. They also out rebounded the Rams by a 53-to-24 margin picking up 25 second chance points. WPI capitalized in the turnover game as well with 22 points off turnovers to the Rams 10.
The 38 points allowed by the Crimson and Gray equaled the lowest during the Chris Bartley era (vs. Fitchburg State - 1/8/04 and vs. Babson on 1/5/13) while the last time the Engineers allowed fewer was 68 years ago when they held Westover Air Force Base to 30 points on January 12th, 1952, a span of 1,562 games.
WPI turns its attention to NEWMAC play, as it opens up conference play on Wednesday, hosting MIT at 6pm. Framingham State closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule at same time Wednesday with a date at Suffolk.
Release Courtesy of Framingham State Sports Information