Worcester, MA --- Junior Will Tashman (Atherton, CA) drained 8-of-11 from the field and finished with 20 points and a contest-high 12 rebounds to help lead MIT to a 71-66 triumph over host WPI in NEWMAC men's basketball action this evening.

With the win the Cardinal and Gray, ranked third in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, improve to 23-1 and 11-1 in the conference standings while WPI slips to 17-6 and 7-4 in the seven-team loop.

The visitors were also led by senior Noel Hollingsworth (Salt Lake City, UT) also poured in a game-best 21 points with seven boards and four assists. Freshman Billy Bender (The Woodlands, TX) added 12 points and third-year Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, NJ) chipped in with 11 points. Tashman also logged his ninth double-double of the season.

Freshman Marco Coppola (Watertown, MA) propelled a balanced scoring attack for WPI as he finished with 16 points. Senior Matt Carr (Somersworth, NH) recorded 12 points and a career-high six blocks while classmate David Brown (Lowell, MA) added 13 points. Fourth-year Jaime Shannon (Lowell, MA) rounded out the hosts with 11 points.

As WPI led 36-35 with 17:34 on the clock at the beginning of the second half, the visitors used a 19-0 run to lead 52-36 with 13:36 left on the back of a Billy Bender three-pointer. MIT would limit their opponents to an 0-for-7 line from the field in their spurt.

But the Boynton Hillers staged a furious 12-2 rally to get within six points (54-48) at the 9:28 mark. Cambridge's Engineers then held their hosts scoreless over the next three minutes and used an 8-0 burst to increase their margin to 62-48 with 6:32 remaining.

With 3:03 on the clock, MIT led 66-54 before the WPI made one final push as they strung together a 10-1 skein to get within three with 19 seconds left (67-64). WPI would convert five of six from the line and Shannon notched a three-point play with 43 seconds remaining to make it a four-point contest.

MIT, however, would ice the game as Billy Bender sank each of his four free throw attempts for the final score.

The contest proved to be tightly contested in the early goings with six lead changes and a trio of ties as WPI emerged with the four-point edge at the 9:44 mark (15-11).

Hollingsworth gave MIT the 22-21 advantage with 5:04 left on a jumper in the paint, but the Crimson and Gray scored five consecutive points on a lay-up by Shannon and a three-pointer by Coppola to lead 26-21 with 4:27 remaining.

Tashman then helped the visitors knot the score 26-26 with a pair of buckets from the charity stripe and a lay-up before the Boynton Hillers went on a 8-0 spurt keyed by treys by sophomore Ryan Kolb (Southington, CT) and Coppola.

MIT got back into it with a field goal by sophomore Will Dickson (Dallas, TX) and a trifecta by Bender with 29 seconds remaining as Jameel Galloway (Randolph, MA) put WPI on top 35-31 at the intermission hitting the back-end of a bonus opportunity.

The contest was a tale of two halves as the visitors shot 57 percent from the field in the second stanza (13-for-23) after connecting for a modest 40 percent in the opening frame (12-for-30). MIT was also 17-for-19 from the free throw line – including 12-for-13 in the final period – and led in total rebounds (34-29).

WPI was on fire in the first period finishing the stanza hitting nearly half their shots (48 percent – 13-for-27) before they were limited to 33 percent (9-for-27) in the second half. The hosts also led in points off turnovers (22-12) and bench points (19-2).

WPI, which secured the second seed in next week's NEWMAC Tournament after Springfield's double overtime loss to Clark, closes out the regular season at home on Saturday versus the cross-town Cougars.  MIT is off until the NEWMAC Tournament when they will host the first winner at 1pm on Saturday, February 25th.

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