Worcester, Mass. - January 23, 2019 - Despite a career-best 25 points from Trey Witter (Unionville, Conn.), the Springfield College men's basketball team was defeated by WPI, 79-66, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) clash on Wednesday evening in Harrington Auditorium.  

 The loss drops Springfield to 6-12, 3-4 in conference action, while WPI improves to 14-4, 5-2.

Witter paced the Pride with 25 points as he made 10-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, while Jake Ross (Northampton, Mass.) added 11 points, nine boards, and five assists on the night as Springfield.  The Pride shot 24-of-53 (45%) but committed 16 turnovers, including 10 in the first half.

WPI's bench outscored Springfield's by a 42-12 margin and the Engineers owned a 36-27 edge on the glass.  Ethan Harrell came of the bench and erupted for a game-high 26 points, while Reid Walker netted 16 points and both Colin McNamara and Kahleb Downing turned in 13 points.

After the Pride jumped out to a 5-0 lead following a deep triple from Witter just under two minutes into the game, WPI stormed back with 12-straight points to gain a seven-point cushion with 13:31 to play.  An inside finish from Kevin Durkin (Worcester, Mass.) allowed Springfield to pull within 22-18 at the 6:21 mark, only to have WPI pump in back-to-back triples to regain a 10-point edge.  Springfield would answer back with triples from Witter and Collin Lindsay (East Longmeadow, Mass.) for a 28-24 contest with 3:31 remaining before WPI would close out the half scoring 11 of the final 18 points en route to a 39-31 lead at the break.

Just over five minutes into the second half, WPI found themselves with a comfortable 57-37 advantage as they cashed in on seven of their first eight field goal attempts of the stanza.  The Engineers lead would balloon to to 71-48 with 7:38 on the clock, but the Pride would make one final push thanks to a 13-2 surge that was capped off by another trifecta at 3:45 from Witter.  That would be as close as things would get and the Engineers held on for the 79-66 conference victory. 

Springfield will return to Blake Arena to face off against Clark on Saturday at 3 pm.