New London, CT --- Junior Ryan Kolb (Southington, CT) scored 15 of his game high 20 points in the second half, pacing a balanced WPI attack en route to an 83-49 victory over Coast Guard in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

It was a game that got away from the Bears from the start as WPI, ranked #8 nationally by D3hoops.com, built an insurmountable 27-6 over the course of the first 8:17 of the game.

By halftime, the lead had swollen to 25 for the Engineers, as seven players scored multiple field goals and eight managed their way into the scoring column. Coast Guard was led in the first half by senior Greg Marshall (Gaithersburg, MD), who came off the bench to put in seven points and pull down two rebounds.

Following a first half in which they were completely outplayed, Coast Guard mounted a valiant effort in the second half, backed by marked improvement in their shooting from the field (40.9 percent vs. 32.1 percent) and taking better care of the ball, trading eight first half turnovers for just six in the second half.

For the game Marshall led the Bears with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 2-of-3 from three point range, while fellow senior Jimmy Knudsen (Ridge, NY), who had a team-high two steals, poured in a season-high tying 12 of his own on 4-of-5 shooting including 1-of-1 from deep. Freshman Mark Krebs (Ballwin, MO) came off the bench to lead the Bears with five rebounds. Freshman Ryan McNeil (Plymouth, IN), also coming off the bench, played 18 minutes and tied a season high with eight points of his own, while also pulling down two rebounds for the Bears.

The Engineers controlled the boards as well as the turnover battle, winning both handily. On the glass WPI was led by freshman Zach Karalis (North Andover, MA) with seven rebounds, as they held a 42-27 edge over the host's as the final whistle blew while turnovers wound up 14-9 in favor of WPI.

Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) ended with 11 points while Joe Wesoloski (Arlington, MA) tossed in nine and Marco Copploa (Watertown, MA) had eight in just 14 minutes of action

With the victory WPI improves to 14-0 on the season and 2-0 in NEWMAC play. The Engineers will face city rival Worcester State on the road on Thursday at 6pm. Coast Guard, with the loss falls to 1-10 and 0-2 in NEWMAC play. Next up for the Bears will be a 6:00 tip-off at MIT on Thursday. They will return home on Saturday for a match-up against Clark.

Release Courtesy Coast Guard Sports Information