WORCESTER -- Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX) poured in a team-best 18 points, Justin Molen (Newark, DE) recorded his third career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Matt Morvillo (Bedford, MA) established a new career high with 14 points to lead WPI to a 90–66 home victory over Coast Guard in a NEWMAC men's basketball contest Wednesday evening inside Harrington Auditorium.
 
NCAA Region II rankings, improves to 18-4 overall and 11-2 in conference play. The Crimson and Gray's top challengers for the NEWMAC regular-season title were also victorious Wednesday, as Babson (a 82-68 winner at Emerson) and Salve Regina (a 67-57 home winner over Springfield) remain one and two games behind the Engineers, respectively, with just three games remaining.
 
Coast Guard falls to 7-16 overall and 3-11 in NEWMAC action.
 
Neither team led by more than seven points in a tightly contested first half that saw Coast Guard jump out early and hold the advantage for 8:10 before the Engineers responded with seven straight points to surge ahead and lead for 8:41 of the stanza. A late three-pointer from Tim Reidy (Needham, MA) and a putback by Morvillo over the final 2:15 helped WPI take a 37–35 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
Bledsoe knocked down three first-half three-pointers on his way to 11 points for the hosts, while Luke Farrell (Ortley Beach, NJ) and Jordan Frazer (Columbia, SC) tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bears.
 
The Crimson and Gray went ahead by double digits for the first time on a Reidy layup. After a Coast Guard basket on the ensuing possession, a J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) bucket pushed the lead back to double figures, where it remained the rest of the way. Newman and Morvillo each scored 10 second-half points as the Engineers shot an impressive 60 percent (18-for-30) from the field over the final 20 minutes.
 
Bledsoe finished 7-for-11 from the floor, including 4-of-8 from three-point range, in his 18-point effort. Newman added 16 points, Morvillo and Molen each contributed 14, and Reidy totaled 12. Newman led all players with six assists, while Molen dished out four. The Engineers outrebounded the Bears 43–34, held a 38–22 advantage in points in the paint, and saw their bench outscore Coast Guard's reserves 32–14.
 
Farrell paced all scorers with 22 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double. The senior drew nine fouls and went 11-of-14 from the free-throw line. Frazer added 12 points, while Ashton Kendall (Baltimore, MD) and Elijah Parent (Bristol, CT) chipped in eight and seven points, respectively.

WPI begins a two-game Eastern Massachusetts road trip on Saturday, traveling to Cambridge for a noon tipoff. Coast Guard opens a two-game homestand the same day, hosting Salve Regina at 3pm.