Newport, RI --- Justin Molen (Hampton, NH) netted a career-high 14 points and the WPI defense allowed its second lowest point total of the season as the Crimson and Gray went on the road and defeated Salve Regina 64-50 in the NEWMAC Men's Basketball season opener for both squads.
 
The Engineers, ranked 17th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, is now 7-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference action while the Seahawks dip to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in NEWMAC play.
 
It marked the first conference game as NEWMAC members for the hosts as Salve Regina and for WPI, it was the first time it has played a league game in the month of December in the 26-year history of the NEWMAC.
 
Neither team produced points in the first four minutes of the game with Salve finally denting the scoring column on its sixth possession on a Declan Walmsley (Franklin, MA) layup and WPI not scoring until its seventh possession.  The Engineers misfired on their first six shots, including five 3-points, until Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) broke the seal with a trifecta 5:20 into the game. 
 
The visitors fortunes from downtown shifted as they connected on 6-of-10 from behind the arc the rest of the half.  The game was knotted at 11-11 with 11 minutes remaining in the frame but the WPI defense would limit the Seahawks to just four baskets the rest of the half and outscored the hosts 22-9 to close out the stanza and take a 33-20 edge into the locker room at the break.
 
Salve Regina tallied five points on its opening two possessions after intermission to cut the deficit to eight at 33-25 but the Crimson and Gray quickly responded with 10 straight points, including four each from Molen and Brett Marelli (Newark, DE), to push the bulge back to double figures where it would remain for the rest of the contest.
 
Molen was the only WPI played to reach double digits in scoring, but nine other Engineers registered between three and seven points with Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, CA), Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) and JT Veiking (Mansfield, MA) all tossing in seven points.  John Adams (Douglas, MA) was a beast on the boards, corralling 14 rebounds, including 13 on the defensive end, Reidy handed out three assists and J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) equaled a career-high by swiping four steals.
 
The WPI defense forced a season-best 24 turnovers and parlayed them into 25 points.  The 50 points allowed were the second fewest all season, just a point short of the 49 yielded to St. Joseph's (ME) in the championship game of the Ted Coghlin Tournament on November 12th.
 
Sean Seymour (Albany, NY) came of the bench and drained all five of his field goal attempts on the night on his way to a game-high 11 points for the hosts.  The sophomore also corralled seven rebounds and doled out a pair of assists.  Clay Brochu (North Kingston, RI) narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and eight boards to go along four steals and Walmsley finished with seven points.
 
Both teams continue conference play Saturday with their final games before the Christmas holiday.  WPI entertains Babson at 2pm in Harrington Auditorium in a rematch of the 2023 NEWMAC Tournament championship game and Salve Regina hosts Clark at 1pm back in the Rodgers Recreation Center.