WORCESTER --- Junior Garrett Stephenson (Townsend, MA) tallied a team-high 21 points to lead the WPI men's basketball team to a 90-81 victory over Coast Guard this evening in NEWMAC action.
WPI, which is receiving votes in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25, improves to 17-4 on the season and 8-2 in conference play. Coast Guard dips to 7-13 overall and 2-8 in NEWMAC action.
Stephenson connected on 7-of-12 from field and added four rebounds. Junior Kahleb Downing (Middletown, CT) flirted with triple double as he tallied 20 points for the Engineers with seven rebounds and eight assists in the game.
Junior Colin McNamara (Arlington, MA) chipped in with 12 points, two rebounds and four assists, while classmate Jake Needleman (Morganville, NJ) and senior Lou Doherty (Arlington, MA) added 11 points.
Senior Packy Witkowski (Melrose, MA) paced the Bears with a game-high 30 points, six rebounds and two assists. Witkowski connected on 10-of-16 from the floor including 6-of-8 from behind the arc.
Sophomore Garrett Drummond (Frederick, MD) chipped in with 15 points, while freshman Madison Maloney (Wilmington, NC) added 14 points and eight rebounds. Senior Justin Kane (Arnold, MD) added 10 points and six rebounds.
WPI led 17-15 with 12:30 on the clock in the first after a three by Witkowski, but the Engineers rattled off a 10-0 run over the next three minutes taking a 25-15 lead. WPI bulged the lead to as many as 19 in the first before taking a 51-36 lead at the break.
Coast Guard whittled away at the lead in the second half cutting the deficit to seven, 85-78, on a Kane layup, but that was as close as they would get as WPI quickly pushed the lead back double digits.
WPI is back in action Wednesday when they travel to Babson for a NEWMAC clash at 7pm while the Bears host MIT on Wednesday at 5:30pm.