Fitchburg, MA --- WPI scored 32 of the game's final 38 points as the Engineers rallied from a 20-point deficit in the final 13 minutes to defeat host Fitchburg State 75-69 in a non-conference men's basketball contest played Monday evening.
The Engineers, who are receiving votes in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25, are now 6-0 on the season. It marks the ninth time a Chris Bartley led team has started a year 6-0 and the first since the 2018-19 campaign, Fitchburg State falls to 1-5 overall.
The game was eerily similar to a game 10 years ago when WPI visited Fitchburg with a 9-0 record in the final game before the Christmas break and found themselves down 20 points in the first half only to fight back and win the game 78-75 on an Aaron Davis buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the top of the key on its way to winning its first 22 games in 2012-13.
The game began at a frantic pace with the Engineers hitting their first three shots from the field and Fitchburg's Kamau Franks (Converse, TX) draining a pair of 3-pointers in the contest's opening five possessions. The two teams then settled in for a while defensively with WPI taking a 21-20 advantage on a Justin Molen (Newark, DE) trifecta with 7:17 to go before intermission, but the Falcon offense reloaded as the hosts outscored the Crimson and Gray the rest of the half 24-11, punctuated by a Javon Tayler (Cambridge, MA) breakaway layup to beat the first half buzzer.
Fitchburg saw its lead balloon to 20 points at 63-43 on a Joshua Jean Charles (Dorchester, MA) layup with 13:46 remaining. WPI then scored the next 11 points and held the hosts scoreless on eight possessions. After the Falcons score three of the next five points, Crimson and Gray captain Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) rattled off six straight points to spearhead a 14-0 spurt that culminated with a Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX) 3-pointer that put the visitors ahead 69-66 with 2:44 to go. Bledsoe then contributed with a key block on the defensive end and a Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, CA) free throw made it a two-possession game.
After a long Fitchburg State 3-pointer, only its second basket of the final 13:46, the Engineers iced the game away with a Sevilla floater and a Callahan trifecta in the final 1:40. Over the final 13:45, the WPI defense held the Falcons to 2-of-11 shooting from the floor, zero offensive rebounds and forced the hosts into seven turnovers on its final 20 possessions of the game.
Callahan ended the night as the game's loading scorer. The junior co-captain netted 21 points, including draining all three of his tries from downtown. Sevilla ended with 14 points and John Adams (Douglas, MA) and Molen both finished a rebound short of a double-double, with identical lines of 11 points and nine rebounds while Adams shared came-high honors with three assists.
Franks topped four Fitchburg State starters in double figures in scoring with 17, with 16 coming before halftime. Taylor registered 14 points and eight boards, Frederick Siayor (Worcester, MA) totaled 13 and Matthew Drayton (Boston, MA) netted 11.
After a busy stretch of six games over the opening 13 days of the regular season, WPI enjoys some extended time off around the Thanksgiving holiday. The Engineers are back in action a week from Tuesday on November 28th, hosting Tufts at 7pm in what could be a matchup of undefeated teams. The Jumbos are currently 3-0 and travel to MIT tomorrow and UMass Boston on Saturday. Fitchburg State also has a long break before returning to the court on Saturday, December 2nd at 1pm at aforementioned MIT.