Springfield, Mass. - January 4, 2023 - A late first-half run propelled the nationally-ranked WPI men's basketball team past visiting Springfield College, 76-48, in both squads New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener on Wednesday night in Harrington Audutorium. 

Springfield dipped to 3-9, 0-1 with the setback, while the 16th-ranked Engineers are now 9-2, 1-0. 

John Paulino (Bedford, Mass.) netted 11 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Pride and the duo of Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) and Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) each added 10 points. Springfield finished the night shooting 17-for-48 (35%), but its 18 turnovers resulted in 21 points for the Engineers.

John Lowther scored a game-high 18 points for WPI and Aidan Callahan stuffed his stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, and seven helpers. WPI held a 44-30 edge on the glass as John Adams pulled down a game-high nine boards.  The hosts shot 45% from the floor as they connected on 29 of their 65 field goal attempts. 

Costa would drill a step-back trifecta at the 11:20 mark to give the Pride an early 14-11 advantage, but the hosts would use a 6-1 spurt capped off by a Callahan layup to go ahead 17-15 with 7:39 on the clock. Zeke Blauner (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) canned a three-pointer from the wing the next time down the floor for the Pride to put the visitors back on top, however WPI would close the final seven-plus minutes on a 20-2 surge to head into the halftime break with a 37-20 lead. 

WPI's cushion grew to 45-22 on a three-pointer by Donovan Sevilla inside the first three minutes of the second half, but Blische would muscle his way into the paint for a jumper at 15:16 to make it a 48-25 contest.  However, WPI would score the next seven points ofo the game to rebuild a 24-point lead and pull away with a 76-48 win.

Springfield continues conference play on Saturday when it hosts Babson at 1 pm. 

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