Newton, MA ---  WPI connected on its first five shots from the floor and jumped out to an 11-0 early lead en route to defeating host Lasell 74-51 in a non-conference men's basketball contest played on Thursday evening.  With the win, the Engineers, ranked No. 18 in the latest D3hooops.com Top 25, remain undefeated at 5-0.  Lasell is now 1-5 on the season.

Four different players netted points for the Crimson and Gray during the opening spurt, including five from senior guard David Brown (Lowell, MA)  The Engineers also used a stout defense during the run, forcing Lasell to miss on its first eight field goal attempts and harassing the Lasers into committing four turnovers over the first six minutes. 

WPI used a late 9-0 in the first half to take a 37-22 lead into the locker room at intermission.  After shooting 53.1% in the opening half, the Engineers shot a blistering 60.7% in the second stanza while never seeing their advantage shrink from double digits.   

Matt Carr (Somersworth, NH) finished a rebound short of his third double-double of the season.  The senior led all players with 18 points, including three dunks, and nine rebounds while draining 9-of-12 of his field goal attempts. 

Freshman Marco Coppola (Watertown, MA), the reigning NEWMAC Player of the Week and D3hoops.com Team of the Week member, added 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor while Ryan Kolb (Southington, CT) paced the WPI bench effort with 11 points.  Brown and Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) both chipped in with seven points for the Engineers, who outrebounded the hosts 40-28 on the night. 

Sean Bertanza (Seymour, CT) posted a team-best 13 points for Lasell while Earnest McNeil (Boston, MA) contributed 12 points and a team-high six boards off the bench.  Javon Williams (Mattapan, MA) aided the Laser charge with nine points.

WPI continues its non-conference slate on Saturday at 1pm with a trip to Becker in a matchup that pits teams that each won a game in last season's NCAA Tournament.  Lasell opens GNAC  conference play on Saturday with a 1pm visit across Newton to face Mount Ida.