WORCESTER -- Senior Brett Marelli (Hampton, NH) exploded for a career-high 24 points to help nationally-ranked WPI captured its fourth consecutive and 13th overall NEWMAC Men's Basketball regular season championship as the Engineers fended off host Clark 67-64 Wednesday evening at the Kneller Center.
 
The triumph improved WPI to 20-2 on the season, marking the 18th time in the last 21 seasons, and fifth straight time, the Crimson and Gray have reached the 20-win mark under head coach Chris Bartley.  The Engineers are now 12-1 in conference play.  Clark falls to 14-9 overall and 10-4 in NEWMAC action.  WPI has swept the regular season series versus the Cougars and secured the top seed in the NEWMAC Tournament in two weeks and can secure the outright crown with a victory in any of its last three games or a Clark loss in either of its final two contests.
 
The Engineers jumped out to an early 8-5 lead sparked by five points from Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) while junior Reid Neumann (Burbank, CA) buried a triple and a pair of senior Isaiah Taylor (Methuen, MA) free throws.  Sophomore Quentin Pridgen (Fitchburg, MA) buried a three-pointer with 15:29 to go in the first before both defenses controlled the game over the next three minutes as neither team scored before J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) buried a three-pointer for the Engineers to take a 12-8 edge.
 
After Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) hit a triple for WPI, senior Bruce Saintilus (Plainville, MA) made a layup to cut the deficit back to five before Marelli scored the next three points as the Engineers held an 18-10 edge with 7:51 remaining in the first half.  The Cougars responded with a 6-2 run as first-year Boluwasefe John (Corona, NY), Taylor, and Saintilus all scored to bring Clark back within four before Callahan scored three unanswered to give WPI a 23-16 lead with 5:06 to go.  The Engineers ended the half on a 12-7 run as Nicholas Margetson (Baldwin, NY) tallied seven points for the Engineers and senior Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, MA) netted five points as Clark trailed 35-23 at the break.

Neumann hit a pair of three-pointers to open the second half before a triple from graduate student Jordan Richard (Lawrence, MA) cut the deficit to five at 37-32 with 15:11 remaining.  John threw down a thunderous slam off a feed from Saintilus and another Richard three-pointer with 11:52 to play as the Cougars pulled within two at 39-37. Marelli scored the contest's next four points before Clark went on an 8-2 run sparked by a pair of Taylor three-pointers and another John dunk tied the contest at 45-45 with 9:23 to go.

Marelli and Reidy then hit a pair of unanswered triples to extend the Engineer lead to six and after a Saintilus layup, Marelli buried another three-pointer with 6:08 remaining as WPI held a 54-47 edge.  WPI then went on a 7-2 run over the next two minutes sparked by buckets from Reidy, Marelli, and Callahan, with the Clark basket coming from McArdle before John and Pridgen combined for the next five points as the Cougars trailed 61-54 with 3:15 to play.  After Marelli made a jumper, Taylor and John each made free throws before a Saintilus triple with 45 seconds remaining pulled the Cougars within four at 63-59.

Reidy hit a pair of free throws with 0:33 to play before Taylor took it to the hoop and made a layup to bring the deficit four at 65-61.  With ten seconds remaining, Saintilus was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws to make it a 65-64 contest.  Reidy was fouled with eight seconds to go and made both free throws to extend the lead to three before Margetson fouled Taylor and Taylor missed the front end of the one-and-one, with Reidy collecting the rebound. Reidy then missed the front end of the one-and-one with four seconds remaining and Saintilus attempted a three-quarter court shot that missed the mark as the Engineers prevailed 67-64.

Marelli led the Engineers with 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds.  Reidy (16) and Callahan (14) also reached double-figures for WPI.  Taylor paced Clark with 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds.  Saintilus added 12 points and dished out seven assists.  McArdle pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds and scored seven points.

Both squads are back in action for more NEWMAC play against MIT. WPI hosts the battle of the Engineers on Saturday at 1pm. Clark travels to Cambridge for a 6pm matchup next Wednesday.
 
Majority of recap written Courtesy Clark Sports Information with additional written by WPI Sports Information Student Assistant Maya Vartabedian '24 '25