WORCESTER – Sophomores Reid Walker (Lithia, FL) and Kahleb Downing Middletown, CT) each scored career-highs and classmate Garrett Stephenson (Townsend, MA) notched a double-double as WPI opened its men's basketball season with a 106-82 victory over Albertus Magnus Tuesday night in Harrington Auditorium.
It is the 45th game in program history with 100 or more points and the first time since WPI defeated Emerson, 105-77, at home on February 10. The point total ties for the 14th highest all-time and in this millennium.
Walker finished with 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Downing, who tied his previous career-best in the first half, ended with 18 points. Stephenson added 13 points to go with a career-highs of 10 rebounds and seven assists. Junior Jake Wisniewski (West Brookfield, MA) and sophomore Jake Needleman (Morganville, NJ) chipped in with 15 points each with the local product hauling in seven rebounds. Freshman Logan O'Donnell (Fishkill, NY) scored six of the last eight WPI points of the game, including a layup to make it an even 100.
Sophomore Tyreek Perkins (New Haven, CT) led the Falcons with 22 points while freshmen Jahrell Spence (Hartford, CT) and Davon Warner (New Haven, CT) came off the bench to score 17 apiece. Warner and Rookie Qualon Wilkes (Bridgeport, CT) accounted for seven steals and classmates Rayshawn Brewer (New Haven, CT) and Terry Dawkins (Queens, NY) combined for 10 rebounds.
Downing gave the Engineers their first double-digit lead with a 3-ppointer at 12:32 in the first. After the margin ballooned to 28 with 3:29 left until the break. Warner scored eight of his points in a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 19. Harrell and Walker traded threes to settle on the 53-34 at the half. WPI pushed back to 28 once for the final time with 3:52 to play.
WPI shot 52.2 percent from the field and 65 percent from beyond the arc compared to the guests with 41.7 and 28.0 percent, respectively. The Boynton Hillers also led in second chance points (23-7), points in the paint (40-32) and fast break points (6-4). Albertus Magnus scored 49 of the game's 69 bench points and had a slim 30-28 edge off turnovers.
The Engineers host the fourth annual Ted Coghlin Memorial Tournament Friday and Saturday. WPI takes on SUNY Potsdam at 5:30 while Eastern Connecticut and William Paterson meet at 7:30 on Friday. The consolation and championship are slated for 1pm and 3pm. The Falcons (1-1) head to the Colonial Classic, hosted by Western Connecticut State, Friday to take on Bowdoin at 7pm.