Hartford, CT --- Trailing by as many as 21 points with under eight minutes remaining, nationally-ranked WPI men's basketball used a 22-5 run to get back to within four points with two minutes to go but the Engineers fell short in their comeback bid, falling to Suffolk 65-53 in a opening round contest in the Trinity Holiday Tournament inside Oosting Gymnasium.
The loss is the second straight for the Engineers, who are ranked 15th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 and drops them to 8-2 on the season while the Rams up their record to 7-2 on the season. WPI will face SUNY-Geneseo in tomorrow's consolation contest at noon while Suffolk will face No. 3 and host Trinity in tomorrow's championship game at 2pm. Earlier Monday afternoon, the host Bantams bested the Knights 72-44 in the tournament's other first round match-up.
The opening half featured five lead changes and a pair of ties and was played within a nine-point window but Suffolk led a majority of the opening 20 minutes. In a first half where the two defenses were the story with both teams returning to action after about three weeks off from games, the Rams shot the ball slightly better (37.0% to 33.3) and made twice as many 3-pointers (4 to 2) on their way to a taking a 27-23 edge into the locker room at the break. Keenan Robertson (Rochester, NY) paced Suffolk in the first half with seven points and six rebounds while Nicholas Margetson (Baldwin, NY) led the way for the Crimson and Gray with six points, including a 3-pointer from downtown and a conventional 3-point play.
Suffolk looked to pull away in the second half and led by as many as 21 points with 7:25 remaining but WPI then embarked upon a 22-5 run capped by an Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) trifecta with 1:37 to go to cut the Rams deficit to just four at 57-53. Justin Molen (Newark, DE) netted a pair of 3-pointers and a trio of free throws during the spurt while Callahan contributed seven points and Jack Bleier (Victor, NY) and Margetson each added three. The Callahan 3-pointer proved to be the last basket of the game but the Bantams were able to secure the victory by going 8-for-12 from the line over the final 82 seconds while the Engineers were not able to score on their final five possessions of the contest.
Callahan and Molen shared team-high scoring honors with 11 points apiece while Margetson and Bleier each netted nine points. Callahan swiped four steals, Margetson hauled in six boards and Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) and Brett Marelli (Hampton, NH) contributing seven and six points respectively.
Danny Yardemian (Belmont, MA) notched a game-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, to go along with seven rebounds and a pair of steals. Jake Gomez (Boston, MA) finished a rebound short of a double-double with 10 points and nine boards and four assists while Robertson totaled nine points, nine caroms, four assists and a pair of steals.