Middletown, CT --- A memorable WPI men's basketball season came to a close on Friday evening as the No. 19 Engineers were defeated by top-seeded and No. 3 Wesleyan 66-50 in a NCAA Division III Sectional Semifinal contest played inside Wesleyan's Silloway Gymnasium.  

The host Cardinals improve to 29-1 overall and will face Emory (GA), who overcame a 10-point first half deficit and then held off a late rally by Mary Washington (VA), in the other sectional final, Saturday at 7:45pm back here at Wesleyan.  WPI, which was making its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in nearly 125 years of varsity basketball, completes its campaign with a 26-4 mark, the second most victories in program history.  

The Cardinals never trailed in the game despite WPI shooting better than the hosts overall from the field (38.0% to 33.9%).  While the two teams each made 19 baskets, Wesleyan enjoyed limited success on 3-pointers, hitting a modest 8-for-27 (29.6%) against an Engineers team that leads all divisions of men's NCAA college basketball (over 1,050 teams) in 3-point field goal percentage defense, while limiting the Crimson and Gray to just 3-of-20 shooting from behind the arc and out-rebounded the guests by a 46-25 margin. 

J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) paced WPI with 14 points while Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) and Justin Molen (Wilmington, MA) both added seven apiece.   Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) shared game-high honors with six assists and finished his career with 1,284 points to pass WPI Hall of Famer and his former assistant coach Jeff Robinson '13 for 13th place all-time on the WPI career scoring list.   Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX) and Matt Morvillo (Bedford, MA) each grabbed six boards on the night. 

The senior class of Callahan, Reidy, Brett Marelli (Hampton, NH) and Will Barton (Meriden, CT) compiled an eye-popping 96-15 (.865) overall record the last four seasons with a 56-5 (.918) NEWMAC regular season record, four outright conference regular season championships, one NEWMAC Tournament title and bookended the postseasons with an Elite Eight appearance as freshman and a Sweet 16 showing as seniors.

Ben Lyttle (New Rochelle, NY) notched a double-double for Wesleyan with 12 points and 10 rebounds and was joined with 12 points by Nicky Johnson (Lexington, MA), who doled out six assists.  Jackson Cormier (Houston, TX) added 11 points for the Cardinals while Fritz Hauser (Waterford, VT) amassed seven points, eight boards, a pair of blocks and two steals.