New London, CT --- The trio of Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX), Justin Molen (Newark, DE),  and Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) teamed up to account for 55 of WPI's 69 points as the Crimson and Gray ventured south to Coast Guard and defeated the Bears 69-53 in a NEWMAC men's basketball contest on Thursday evening.
 
The Engineers, ranked No. 24 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, up their record to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in NEWMAC action.   The result, coupled with Salve Regina's loss at Springfield earlier in the day, moves the Crimson and Gray back into a tie atop the conference standings.  Coast Guard falls to 5-10 on the season and 0-6 in league play.
 
The trio of Bledsoe, Molen and Reidy combined to shoot 18-for-28 (64.3%) from the field and 7-of-14 (50%) on 3-pointers.  Bledsoe led all scorers with 22 points to go along with six rebounds and a pair of blocks, Molen stuffed the stat columns with 18 points, a game-high seven assists and five boards, and Reidy finished with 15 points, pocketed a pair of steals and snipped a block.  Nicholas Margetson (Baldwin, NY) and Matt Morvillo (Bedford, MA) headlined a balanced Engineers effort on the glass with seven apiece while J.R Newman (Havertown, PA) corralled six and Jack Bleier (Victor, NY) provided a spark offensively with seven points.

Coast Guard led 4-0 after the second of two baskets by Luke Farrell (Ortley Beach, NJ) just 1:02 in but then the Engineer defense stiffened, limiting the Bears to just two baskets on their next 21 attempts and just six more overall for the half as the hosts were limited to a 25.8% performance from the field over the opening 20 minutes.  WPI also struggled to find its offensive groove in the first half, but bolstered by eight points from Molen and a 16-3 bulge in bench scoring, the Crimson and Gray took a 25-20 edge into the locker room at the break.
 
The second half was a different story offensively for the Engineers, which after misfiring on its first shot after the break, nailed eight straight field goal attempts, bookended by back-to-back Reidy trifectas to start the run and a Bledsoe 3-pointer to end the spurt.  That push the Engineers' over double digits, where it would remain the rest of the way.
 
Farrell amassed 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bears as the senior tallied his fifth double-double of the season and 10th of his career and Elijah Parent (Bristol, CT) reached double figures in scoring with 10. 
 
Both squads wrap up a three-game in five-day week on Saturday at 1pm.  WPI entertains MIT in an all-Engineers showdown in Harrington Auditorium while Coast Guard travels to Newport, Rhode Island to square off Salve Regina.