WORCESTER, Mass. – MIT overcame a nine-point halftime deficit by outscoring Clark University, 39-24 in the second half to come away with a 66-60 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball victory. Freshman Bradley Jomard (Paris, France) scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to lead the Engineers to the victory.

MIT (14-4, 6-2 NEWMAC) missed on its first three field goal attempts while Clark (5-14, 2-6 NEWMAC) hit on its first three to take an early 6-0 lead after a layup by John Pisacreta. The Engineers went on to hit on just one of its first seven shots and the Cougars took advantage, extending their lead to 10-2 on a bucket by Tyler Huffman. 

MIT was back within six at 12-6 on a layup by senior Ryan Frankel (New York, N.Y.), but Clark erupted for a 13-0 run extend their lead to 19 points. Huffman hit five free throws in the streak and Luke Lalima added a three-pointer as the Cougars went on to take a 25-6 lead midway through the half. MIT did not fold, however, and sparked by back-to-back threes by senior Justin Pedley (Kennewick, Wash.) in the final three minutes, the Engineers closed the half with a 21-11 surge that had the lead back under 10 points at the half at 36-27. 

Over the first seven minutes of the second half Clark managed to hold off any charge attempt by MIT, and when Joe Atkinson hit a three at 13:04 the Cougars were back on top by 10 at 48-38. The Engineers then started to chip away at their deficit, with Jomard and Pedley draining threes that helped MIT put together a 16-6 spurt that tied the game at 54-all when Pedley sank a jumper.

Clark scored the next four points, but Jomard answered with a three and a jumper that gave MIT its first lead of the afternoon at 59-58 with 2:55 left. The Engineers were not done, using Jomard's trey as the spark for a 10-0 run that proved to be decisive. The Cougars missed five shots over the final six minutes and MIT parlayed it into a 64-58 lead when Frankel sank a pair of free throws with 18 ticks left. Atkinson hit a basket for Clark with four seconds to go, but Frankel stepped to the line and sank another two freebies to ice the comeback.

Jomard hit on 11-of-20 attempts from the floor, 3-of-5 from long range, and also pulled down eight rebounds to help MIT to a 31-26 edge on the boards. Pedley hit on 4-of-8 three-point attempts on his way to a 23-point day while Frankel finished with 10 points and four assists. Senior Russell Johnson (New York, N.Y.) came off the bench to lead the Engineers with 11 rebounds and four steals.

Huffman finished with 19 points to lead Clark, with Atkinson joining him in double figures with 13 points while leading the team with eight rebounds.

Next up for MIT will be a road game against Springfield College, with the Engineers meeting the Pride on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m.