Keene, NH --- Behind a season-high 22 points from J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA), the No. 19 WPI men's basketball squad rallied from a double digit second half deficit to defeat Saint Joseph's (ME) 73-67 in the opening game of the Keene State Invitational presented by Best Western Plus Keene in Spaulding Gymnasium on Friday evening.
 
WPI, ranked 19th in the 2025-26 debut of the D3hoops.com Top 25, moves to 4-0 overall and will face the winner of Friday's second game between Nichols and the host Owls at 3pm in Saturday's championship game.   The Monks, who like the Engineers, which reached the Sweet 16, participated in last season's NCAA Division III Tournament, slips to 2-3 on the young season and will play either the Bison or Keene State in Saturday's 1pm consolation tilt.
 
The Crimson and Gray, who trailed by as many as 13 points, found themselves down 12 at 58-46 with just eight minutes remaining but rattled off 27 of the next 34 points to storm back and reach the championship contest.   Sharpshooter Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX) accounted for seven of WPI's first 12 points during the spurt and his fast break layup got WPI to within four at 62-58 with 4:20 remaining.
 
From that point Newman took over, first getting the Engineers to just one point down with a trifecta and after a Justin Molen (Newark, DE) steal on the other end, and then providing the Boynton Hillers their first lead since late in the first half with a 3-pointer with 2:59 to go.  A key Nicholas Margetson (Baldwin, NY) steal and layup and a Molen bucket kept the Monks at bay on back-to-back possessions before Newman and rookie Tao Schreiber (Pompano Beach, FL) drained 6-of-6 from the free line in the last minute to finish of the comeback triumph.
 
Newman added four boards to go along with his 22 points while Bledsoe fell a rebound short of a double-double for the second time in four nights, amassing 15 points and nine boards.  Schreiber dodged foul trouble to equal his career-best scoring output with 13 points and Molen, WPI's leading scorer, shook off an off shooting night to stuff the stat sheets with five steals, four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals to go along with five points  Jack Bleier (Victor, NY) aided the WPI effort with eight points off the bench for the Engineers. 
 
Reigning GNAC Rookie of the Week Davis Mann (Falmouth, ME) continued his strong start to his collegiate career, leading all players with 25 points while Wani Donato (Portland, Maine) registered 12 points and 12 rebounds to post his second double-double of the season and seventh of his career for the Monks.
 
WPI misfired on its first eight shots from the floor to start the game and found itself in a 7-2 hole before Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) canned a 3-pointer 5:27 into the contest.  In fact, WPI struggled from the field, shooting 23.3% (10-for-43) before draining 10 of its last 11 shots from field.  The Engineers also distinguished themselves at the free throw line, connecting on 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the charity stripe with Newman (8-for-8), Bledsoe (6-for-6) and Bleier (4-for-4) perfect on the night.