NEW LONDON, N.H. – December 6, 2011 – The Worcester Polytechnic Institute men's basketball team, who entered tonight's game ranked #15 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, defeated Colby-Sawyer 76-56 on Tuesday evening at the Hogan Sports Center.

The Engineers improve to 7-0 on the season, while Colby-Sawyer evens its record at 4-4.  

WPI built a comfortable lead in the first half by holding Colby-Sawyer to just four field goals. The Engineers did most of their damage in the paint where they scored 28 of their 38 first half points. WPI also turned 10 Colby-Sawyer turnovers into 18 points.

The Engineers shot 55.2% from the floor in the first and had their biggest lead of 22 at the break 38-16.

Colby-Sawyer tried to chip away early in the second half, but every time they made a run WPI responded with a mini-spurt leading to its biggest edge of 26 at the 10:42 mark. The Chargers outscored WPI 40-38 in the second stanza and scored 14 points off 10 Engineer turnovers.

Freshman Marco Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) led 13 WPI scorers with 15 points. He added a team best six rebounds. Freshman Domenick Mastascusa (N. Reading, Mass.) scored a career-high 12 points off the bench, while senior Matt Carr (Somersworth, N.H.) was the third Engineer to reach double-figures with 11.

Senior James Tobin (Brookline, N.H.) and junior Paul Holland (England, UK) each scored nine points to pace Colby-Sawyer. Freshman Mike Dias (Carver, Mass.) added eight points and a team best six rebounds.

Colby-Sawyer wraps up the first semester with a pair of conference games this weekend against Thomas and the University of Maine-Farmington. WPI travels to Providence, R.I. on Thursday for a 7:00 pm tip at Rhode Island College.