Boston, Mass. – January 29, 2014 - The Springfield College men's basketball team earned a 68-58 win over host Emerson College on Wednesday in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action. Robbie Burke (Cheshire, Mass.) paced the Pride with 15 points, 15 rebounds and six assists.

The Pride improves to 14-4 overall (5-2, NEWMAC) with the win and is in the midst of its best season since the 1997-98 squad went 17-1 through 18 games.

Springfield dished out an impressive 21 assists on 24 baskets and dominated the boards with as a team, outrebounding the hosts by a 41-26 margin.

In addition to Burke's standout showing, Tim Swenson (Millbury, Mass.) had a big game for the Pride, finishing with nine points and 12 rebounds. Nick McKenna (Danvers, Mass.) tallied 12 points while Nick Sienkiewicz (Cranston, R.I.) chipped in 11 points and four boards. Quinn McKenna (Litchfield, Conn.) provided some very valuable minutes off the bench and produced five points and three helpers.

Springfield struggled to get into a flow in the first half, trailing by as much as five. Facing a 25-22 decifit with 5:21 left in the first, Springfield opened up a 10-0 run, as Quinn McKenna factored in on three-consecutive buckets to put the Pride up 32-25. Emerson netted the five points in the final 50 seconds to head into the half training Springfield, 32-30.

Despite scoring the first six points of the second half to lead by eight, Springfield surrendered a 7-0 burst in just 1:09 to find themselves up 38-37. Springfield eventually broke open the game with an 11-2 run, with Quinn McKenna drilling a triple as the Pride's lead grew to 53-42 with 10:29 to play.

Emerson made one final run, getting within six with 3:51 to play, but Burke found Nick McKenna out of a timeout for a critical trifecta to seal the important league victory.

Springfield will have a big test on Saturday, traveling to WPI, who is ranked fourth in the nation in this week's D3Hoops.com poll, for a 3:00 p.m. conference clash.