WORCESTER – Senior Ian Converse (Woodstock, CT) earned MVP honors as WPI needed an extra five minutes to knock off DeSales, 73-70, in the championship game of the second annual Ted Coghlin Memorial Tournament Saturday afternoon in Harrington Auditorium. Converse dropped 21 points in the title game to go with 20 in Friday night's opener.

WPI, who claims its second title in as many years, is now 3-0 while DeSales dips to 2-1. Both teams received votes in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25.

Trailing 61-59 with 14.6 seconds left in regulation, Bulldog senior Kuity Slanger (Upper Darby, PA) went to the line and hit both free throws. Just over five seconds later, sophomore Jamani Spencer (Closter, NJ) made the back end of a double bonus to make it a 62-60 game. Slanger then forced overtime with a layup as 4.2 seconds remained.

Senior Ryan Callahan (Washington, NJ) put DeSales ahead in the extra session with a traditional three-point play. After Spencer hit a jumper at 3:04, Converse converted an and-one of his own for the two-point advantage. Another Converse layup increased the cushion to 69-65 with 1:15 to go. Slanger and classmate Joseph Lococo (Easton, PA) each cut the deficit to a pair, but freshman Jake Wisniewski (West Brookfield, MA) had the final say on the front end of a pair of freebies.

Eight of Converse's 10 first half points keyed an 18-4 run in the opening 7:05 as Slanger accounted for 10 of DeSales points in a 14-6 run to end the half. WPI jumped out to a seven point advantage 3:11 into the second. From there, it was a relatively close game with the Bulldogs tying the game five times and taking a pair of leads thanks to Lococo. The Engineers had a six point margin with 2:43 in regulation.

Spencer outscored the DeSales bench 20-19 as sophomore James Loring (Norton, MA) and junior Chris Rodgers (Franklin, MA) accounted for the other 13. Wisniewski tallied 11 points and Sean Doncaster (Medford, MA) posted eight. Converse also chipped in with eight boards as he and Doncaster each had a trio of steals.

Slanger finished with 19 points as Lococo (four steals) put up 13. Callahan added 10 to go with eight rebounds.

The Engineers were better in points off turnovers (24-13), points in the paint (38-30) and fast break points (10-2). The Bulldogs shot a game-best 48.1 percent, including 38.9 from downtown, hauled in more rebounds (37-32) and had 12 of the 20 second chance points.

WPI heads down the road Tuesday for a 5:30 matchup at Worcester State while DeSales travels to Moravian for an 8pm start.

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Malcolm Delpeche's Double-Double Sends Bates Past Salve Regina in Coghlin Consolation

WORCESTER – Senior Malcolm Delpeche (Wilmington, DE) dropped 20 points, including 14 in the first half, to lead Bates past Salve Regina, 83-63, in the consolation game of the second annual Ted Coghlin Memorial Tournament Saturday afternoon at WPI's Harrington Auditorium.

Delpeche also corralled 10 rebounds for the game's lone double-double as twin Marcus Delpeche (Wilmington, DE) totaled 10 rebounds and eight points. Senior Quin Leary (Auburn, ME) and junior Shawn Strickland (Middletown, CT) chopped in with 14 points apiece while Strickland handed out four assists.

Senior Nicholas Bates (Danvers, MA) netted a game-high 20 points for the Seahawks and was followed by junior Rodney Morton (Malden, MA) with 18.  

Salve Regina had a pair of seven point leads in the first 2:30. Leary handed Bates the lead for good with a 3-pointer at 10:55. A three by sophomore Isaiah Bowman (Roxbury, MA) cut the Seahawks deficit to one before the Bobcats closed out the frame with a 16-2 run.

Morton helped slice the SRU deficit to single digits with a triple at 14:41 and senior Connor Costello (Southborough, MA) did the same with a layup with 11:47 to play. Freshman Tom Coyne (Falmouth, ME) put the game back into double digits for the final time with a long range shot at 9:33.

Bates controlled points in the paint (32-28), points off turnovers (20-6) and bench points (31-16) while claiming the edge in second chance points (8-7) and fast break points (4-2).

Bates (1-1) hosts Southern Maine Tuesday at 7:30pm while Salve Regina (0-3) entertains Coast Guard at 7pm, also on Tuesday.