Springfield, Mass. - January 29, 2020 - The Springfield College men's basketball team battled their way to an 84-66 victory over WPI in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tilt on Wednesday night in Blake Arena.

Both teams came into the game receiving votes in this week's D3hoops.com National Poll and identical 14-3 records, including sitting atop the NEWMAC at 4-1. 

Jake Ross (Northampton, Mass.) led all players with 20 points and added nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while Robert Baum (West Springfield, Mass.) netted 15 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting, including four three-pointers.  Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) delivered 13 points and Collin Lindsay (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored 10 points for the Pride, which finished the game shooting 27-for-54 (50%), including 13-of-22 (59%) from beyond the arc.  

For WPI, Colin McNamara scored 13 points and both John Lowther and Kahleb Downing produced 12 points in the setback, while Ethan Harrell contributed eight points and eight caroms.  The Engineers shot just 22-for-61 (36%) on the night.

After the visitors opened up a 10-6 lead just over five minutes on a triple by Lowther, the Pride answered right back with a 9-2 surge as Trey Witter (Unionville, Conn.) drilled a trifecta at the 13:32 mark to give the hosts a 15-12 edge.  Springfield would push its lead to 31-26 on a Costa finish in transition at 6:50, and after the Engineers cut it to a one-score game at 34-31 on a McNamara bucket, Springfield put together an 11-5 push, which made it a 45-36 game following a layup by Ross with less than a minute to play.  Springfield would take a 45-37 advantage into the halftime break, as Costa led all players with 11 points.

Lindsay would drill a triple to open up the second half to make it an 11-point game before Ross got free from a triple of his own with 14:21 as WPI called for a timeout with the lead ballooning to 58-43.  Baum would cash in for another shot from beyond the arc with 10:03 remaining to make it a 68-51 advantage, but WPI would not go away quietly, getting within 12, but Lindsay drilled a three pointer as the shot clock expired at 2:19 and Ross found Noah Cummings (Epsom, N.H.) inside on the next possession to push the lead back to 80-62 as WPI whistled for another timeout.  Joe Fontanella (Littleton, Mass.) put the exclamation point on the win with a four-point play in the final seconds to bring the Springfield faithful to their feet to close out the conference victory. 

 Springfield travels to Clark University on Saturday at 1 pm. 

 For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Springfield "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.