WORCESTER -- Justin Molen (Newark, DE) and Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, Texas) both collected double-doubles, Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) canned six 3-pointers and J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) converted a pair of layups in the final 40 seconds to propel the nationally-ranked WPI men's basketball team to a hard-earned 72-66 victory over visiting St. Lawrence on Tuesday afternoon inside Harrington Auditorium.
 
WPI, ranked 17th in the most recent D3hoops.com Top 25, matches its season-best win streak of four straight and is now 8-1 overall while the Saints fall to 3-7 on the season.
 
Neither team led by double digits at any point, but the host Engineers were ahead for the majority of the second half and were up only two points at 62-60 after Dan Anderson (Syracuse, NY connected on a trifecta with 1:46 remaining.   The hosts answered right back with a shorter jumper by Molen in the paint only to see the Saints get to within one following an offensive rebound and another Anderson 3-pointer with 42.5 to go.
 
Following a timeout, Molen hit a streaking Newman in stride with a three quarters court inbounds pass to put WPI ahead 66-63 with 38.0 remaining.   After a miss on the other end, Reidy found Newman ahead of the pack for a hoop and a foul and the senior completed the traditional 3-point play to essentially put the game away at 69-63 with 21.7 seconds to go.  Bledsoe would drain 3-of-4 free the charity stripe in the final 10.8 seconds as the Engineers worked around a 3-pointer from SLU's Adam Dudzinski (Syracuse, NY) in the waning seconds.

The first half saw the Saints begin and end the stanza with hot shooting.  SLU connected on its first three shots and 6-of-9 to start the game to jump out to a 14-6 advantage only to endure a 16-2 WPI run that saw the visitors misfire on eight straight from the field.  There were seven lead changes in the opening 20 minutes with the last of which occurring when Molen drained a 3-pointer with under five seconds left to put the Engineers ahead 33-31 at the break.   Molen finished the opening half a point and a rebound short of a double-double while St. Lawrence's Dudzinski paced all scorers with 14 points in the first 20 minutes.

Reidy connected on 6-of-12 shots from downtown and led WPI with 18 points.   Bledsoe amassed his first career-double with 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds while Molen posted his second double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-best 16 boards to go along with four assists and just one turnover in 36 minutes of action.   The duo of Molen and Bledsoe combined for 28 of WPI's 49 rebounds on the day as the Engineers held a 49-33 edge on the glass over the Saints.

Newman finished with 12 points, Jack Bleier (Victor, NY) provided a spark off the bench with nine points and Nicholas Margetson (Baldwin, NY) filled the stat sheets with five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Dudzinski was dominant for SLU, registering a season-best and career-equaling best 27 points.  The senior shot 9-for-15 from the field, including 5-of-10 on 3-pointers and grabbed six boards.  Anderson chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds.  

Both teams continue their respective schedules in 2006.  WPI continues a four-game homestand on Saturday, January 3rd at 2pm against No. 21 Tufts in a matchup of nationally-ranked teams.   St. Lawrence has nothing but Liberty League conference contests the rest of the way, resuming on Monday, January 5th at 4pm at home versus local rival Clarkson.