Owings Mills, MD --- Domenick Mastascusa (North Reading, MA) scored eight of his 15 points in the final 4:09 of regulation and Chris Rodgers' (Franklin, MA) layup with 44 seconds left in overtime helped nationally-ranked WPI men's basketball fend off Chicago, 81-79, at the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic hosted by Stevenson on Saturday.

The Engineers, ranked 12th in the D3Hoops.com Preseason Top 25, improve to 3-0 while the Maroons slip to 2-1. The Crimson and Gray close out their trip with a 3pm game against No. 20 Cabrini on Sunday while Chicago takes on host Stevenson at noon.

With WPI trailing 74-73, Rodgers hit a layup and seconds later helped preserve the lead with a defensive rebound.  Zach Karalis (North Andover, MA) then canned the final six points for the Crimson and Gray in the form of free throws. Not going away, Collin Barthel (Indianapolis, IN) cut the deficit to one with a pair of freebies near the beginning of Karalis' spurt and Jake Fenlon (Rochester, NY) banged a three with seconds left in the extra frame.

Toward the end of regulation, Mastacusa gave the Engineers a 66-61 cushion; however, the Maroon chipped away and saw Jordan Smith (Chicago, IL) drain a late 3-pointer to send the game into overtime.

Clyde Niba (Atlanta, GA) led the Engineers with 17 points and six rebounds, including a 10-for-10 day at the line, while Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) added 13 points. The starting five of Niba, Mastacusa, Aaron Davis (Marshfield, MA), Sean Doncaster (Medford, MA) and Longwell combined for 22 rebounds. Karalis and Obi Obiora (Boston, MA) came off the bench to score 14 and 10, respectively. Davis and Mastacusa each added four assists as Longwell and Karalis chipped in with three while Davis also tallied three swipes.

Waller Perez (Berwyn, IL) notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards as four of Chicago's starters reached double-digits as Smith led the way with 21 points. Tyler Howard (Sioux Falls, SD) added 17 points and Nate Brooks (Chicago, IL) had 12.

Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

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