Danbury, CT --- The Western Connecticut State University men's basketball team posted its sixth consecutive win behind a solid team effort from the free-throw line as they defeated visiting WPI 92-77 Tuesday night at Feldman Arena. With the win, WestConn improves to 9-1 on the season, while WPI falls to 7-3. Both teams entered the game ranked in the Top-25 in the latest D3hoops.com poll with WestConn at #25 and WPI #23.
WPI took an early 6-0 lead in the first two minutes, and stretched the lead to nine after Robinson completed a three point play at the 16:05 mark. WestConn then went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to make the margin 13-11 in favor of WPI. The Engineers again moved out to a nine-point lead at the midway point of the first half, but the Colonials battled back behind the three-point shooting of Pelletier to tie the score at 30-30 with four minutes remaining before halftime. WPI held a three-point lead with less than a minute remaining, but the Colonials scored the final five points of the half on two Redding free throws and a 3-pointer by Brooks as the final buzzer sounded to end the first half sending WestConn into the locker room at intermission with a 40-38 lead.
Jarrett hit a 3-pointer to start the second half for WestConn, but WPI scored the next five points to tie the score 43-43. A pair of Brooks threes gave the Colonials a six point lead, but WPI fought back to draw within one at 53-52 with 14 minutes left. Over the next five minutes, WestConn outscored WPI 16-6 due in large part to six free throws without a miss by Redding. Two successful free throws by junior Gary Robinson (Torrington, CT) gave the Colonials a 12-point lead with just over two minutes to play and WestConn continued to be solid from the line down the stretch to win by the final margin of 92-77.
Leading WPI were Jeffrey Robinson (Granby, CT) with 23 points and Matt Carr (Somersville, NH) with 14 points. Ben Etten (Hollis, NH) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for the Engineers. Joe Wesoloski (Arlington, MA) put in a career high seven points and pulled down six boards, a rebound shy of his career mark.
For the game, WestConn held a 38-36 advantage in rebounds, and shot 85.2% from the line compared to 66.7% for WPI.
WestConn assistant coach Eddie Quick filled in for WestConn's head coach, Bob Campbell, who is taking a brief medical leave of absence from the team.
WestConn will be in action again on Monday, January 3rd when it hosts Albertus Magnus at Feldman Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00pm. The Engineers host non-conference Becker at 4pm on Thursday as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.
Release Courtesy Western Connecticut Sports Information.