WORCESTER – Sophomore Colin McNamara (Arlington, MA) set a new career-high with 18 points and classmate Ethan Harrell (Wexford, PA) tied his career-best of eight rebounds as the WPI men's basketball team collected their fourth consecutive victory with a 74-60 NEWMAC triumph over host Clark Saturday afternoon at the Kneller Athletic Center.
With the win, the Engineers improve to 14-4 overall and 4-2 in league play. Clark dips to 5-12 and 1-5.
Prior to the game the Cougars recognized three seniors for senior day: Denis Tobin (Medway, MA), Brendan Kittredge (Clinton, MA), and Adam Converse (Woodstock, CT).
WPI pulled ahead by six at the start of the first half with a pair of layups from sophomore Reid Walker (Lithia, FL) and one from junior Jake Wisniewski (West Brookfield, MA). Clark pulled within one when sophomore Anthony Grzembski (Webster, MA) hit a three pointer at the 12:41 mark (10-9). The Engineers extended their lead back to seven when McNamara added four points from a drive to the hoop and two made free-throws with 7:53 on the clock (22-15). The visitors finished the half on a 7-0 run to take a 37-17 lead heading into the break. Walker led WPI in the first half with 12 points while McNamara followed him with 10 points.
Clark climbed back within 13 in the second half when Kittredge made two from the free-throw line, Grzembski found his way to the hoop, and Arteaga added two with just under nine minutes to play (56-43). That was as close as they would come though as WPI used nine points off the bench from Harrell and eight points from McNamara in the second half to capture the 74-60 victory.
Walker led all scorers with 19 points for the Engineers to go along with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, and three blocks. McNamara followed his lead with 18 points of his own while Harrell finished the day with 12 points and a team leading eight rebounds.
Kittredge and Converse led Clark in scoring with nine points each. First year Antonio Lapeyrolerie (Plano, TX) led all players under the hoop with nine rebounds.
WPI shot 51.8% from the field while Clark shot 32.8%. The Engineers edged Clark in rebounding 38-35. The Cougars shot 73.9% from the free-throw line (17-for-23) while WPI shot 66.7% from the charity stripe (12-for-18).
Both teams host NEWMAC contests at 7pm Wednesday night as WPI welcomes Springfield and Clark entertains nationally-ranked MIT.
Recap Courtesy Clark Sports Information