WORCESTER -- In a matchup of two teams that appear in the initial NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Region II rankings, Clark drained 14-of-16 second half free throws, including a perfect 8-for-8 in the final 1:37, as the Cougars rallied from a halftime deficit against WPI for the second time this season to defeat the host Engineers 69-62 on Wednesday evening in Harrington Auditorium. It completed a regular season sweep of the Engineers for Clark for the first time in two decades.
The Cougars improve to 17-6 on the season and 11-3 in conference play. WPI, which saw its seven-game winning streak snapped, falls to 18-4 overall and 11-2 in NEWMAC play.
The Engineers, who are receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, still control their own destiny for winning the NEWMAC regular season title outright and the top seed in the conference tournament later this month as wins in their final three contests (at MIT, vs. Springfield, at Wheaton). Clark, which has its conference bye on Saturday, wraps up league play next week with a home game against MIT and a road matchup at Springfield.
The game was tightly-contested throughout, with the final score supplying the largest spread at any point of the night. In a matchup featuring 17 lead changes, including 11 in the second half and nine ties, WPI went ahead for the final time when Donovan Sevilla's (San Ramon, CA) layup put the hosts ahead 52-50 with 7:12 to go. The Cougars seized control of the game with scores on their next three possessions, capped by a Reid Neumann (Burbank, CA) 3-pointer with 5:35 remaining to put the guests ahead 57-52.
The game then stayed within a three-point window with WPI never getting closer than three points and the guests never leading by more than five points until Isaiah Taylor (Methuen, MA) canned a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining to secure the visitors the victory. The Cougars, who did not go to the free throw line in the first half and attempted 16 of the second half's shots from the charity stripe, saw Taylor go 6-for-6 and Bruce Saintilus (Plainville, MA) finished a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.
WPI was ahead for most of the opening 20 minutes but it was the Cougars that took their biggest lead of the half at 24-19 on a Neumann 3-pointer with 3:53 to go before intermission but a Clark technical foul ignited an 11-0 Engineer spurt capped by a Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) trifecta that gave the hosts their largest bulge of the first half at six before eventually leading 31-29 at the break. John Adams (Douglas, MA) and Neumann each notched 10 points in the first half with Adams grabbing six boards, all on the defensive end.
Taylor posted a stat line that included 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Newmann totaled 14 points while Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, MA) worked through first half foul trouble to finish with 12 points and six boards and Saintilus produced eight points and eight rebounds.
Sevilla netted 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half for the Crimson and Gray. The senior canned a trio of shots from downtown on the night. Adams continued his recent run of double-doubles with his fourth straight and seventh in his last eight contests. The forward was 7-of-11 from the field and tallied 18 points and 14 boards on the night and now sits at 999 career points. Adams now has 12 double-doubles this season and 35 in his career. Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) reached double-figures in scoring for the hosts with 10 points to go along with a game-high four assists and J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) tallied eight points, five rebounds and a career-best-equaling four steals.
WPI returns to the hardwood on Saturday, venturing to Cambridge to tangle with MIT at 3pm. Clark is off until next Wednesday when they also take on MIT however at home in the Kneller Center at 7pm.
