WORCESTER --- WPI rookie John Lowther (Hingham, MA) poured in 20 points for a career-high scoring for the third time in the last four outings at the Engineers went on the road and handed Wheaton a 94-66 setback in a NEWMAC men's basketball contest played on Wednesday evening.
With the victory, WPI moved to 11-3 on the season and 2-1 in conference action. The host Lyons dip to 5-8 overall and 0-3 in NEWMAC play.
Facing an early 7-4 deficit, the visiting Engineers received points from five different players, during a 13-0 run capped by five straight points by Kahleb Downing (Middletown, CT). The surge gave the Crimson and Gray a lead they would not relinquish. WPI shot 56.5% from the floor in the first half and out rebounded the Engineers 22-12 en route to taking a 50-30 advantage into the locker room at intermission.
WPI scored the first five points of the second half and would only see its lead shrink to under 20 points on one occasion in the final 20 minutes.
Lowther, fresh off a 13-point performance on Saturday against Babson, established a new career-high with 20 points. The freshman had a strong all-around game with six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Downing narrowly missed career-bests in points (20) and rebounds (8) while chipping in with four assists and a pair of steals. Colin McNamara (Arlington, MA) reached double figures in scoring with 10 points and Jake Wisniewski (West Brookfield, MA) and Dakota Wheeler (Easthampton, MA) both finished with eight points.
Jake Needleman (Morganville, NJ) came off the bench and hit a trio of 3-pointers for nine points and fellow reserves Logan O'Donnell (Fishkill, NY), Ethan Harrell (Hingham, MA) and John Gates (Hingham, MA) to help the Engineers enjoy a 27-12 bulge in bench scoring.
Alex DuBrow (Foxboro, MA) tallied with a team-high 18 points for Wheaton and Aaron Williams (Springfield, MA) amassed 12 points and six boards.
WPI plays the middle game of a three-game road trip on Saturday, heading to New London, Connecticut to take on Coast Guard at 1pm. Wheaton hosts MIT at the same time on Saturday.