CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- They say "third time's the charm."

Unfortunately, for the Emerson Lion's Men's Basketball team, the third meeting with the MIT Engineers this season didn't bounce their way. The Lions fell 74-66 in the Quarterfinal Round of NEWMAC playoffs Wednesday night at the Rockwell Cage.

With the loss, No. 5 seed Emerson closes out the season 11-14 overall and 5-9 in conference play, while No. 4 seed MIT (18-7, 10-4 NEWMAC) moves on to face the No. 1 Babson Beavers on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 1:00 pm.

In the first half, the Engineers jumped on a 6-0 run to open the game and continued to put points on the board as Emerson slowly chipped away, bringing the score to a 15-15 tie with 10:09 on the clock.

A 17-17 stalemate was left on the board from 8:44 to 6:09 until MIT made a pair of free throws and then began to pile on the points, going up by as much as 13 with 38 seconds before halftime.

Junior guard Michael Thorpe led the Lions with 10 points in the first half.

Junior guard Ryan Frankel paced the Engineers with 14 points and senior forward Matt Redfield pulled down 12 rebounds as MIT boxed out Emerson, 20 to 8 on the boards in the half.

MIT took a 38-28 lead going into halftime.

In the second half, the Lions showed heart and battled, outscoring the Engineers 38-36 in the half, though it was a game EC never led.

Junior forward Sean Duffy got hot as he led the floor with 12 points in the second half and pulled down a crucial five offensive rebounds to give the Lions a second chance.

Junior forward Austin Pinckney grabbed seven defensive rebounds to send the ball the other way and chipped in nine points for Emerson in his second half effort.

With 12:15 remaining, Emerson trailed by as much as 21 points.

But, with a little over two minutes left, the Lions got to within four points on Pinckney's 3-point jump shot to give the Lions' bench some added life and kept their hopes alive, down 67-63.

Duffy (17 points, eight rebounds), Thorpe (15 points) and Pinckney (12 points, seven rebounds) were the top scorers for the Lions.

The Lions were out-rebounded 47 to 29 in the game, but managed to force 23 MIT turnovers and scored a season-high 33 points off these forced turnovers.

Emerson took 69 shots from the field in the game, compared to MIT's 44, but the Engineers made 50% of their attempts.

Perhaps the biggest difference in the game was MIT went to the foul line for 38 attempts and converted 71%, compared to Emerson's 10-of-17 from the stripe.

Frankel finished with 23 points and Redfield added 13 points and a team-high 18 rebounds in the win for MIT.

MIT won both prior meetings with Emerson this season by nine points each, including a 68-59 victory last week in Cambridge and a 64-55 defeat at home on Jan. 24.

This week's tournament game was a rematch from a year ago when MIT also hosted Emerson, taking a 64-56 win that started the Engineers on the road to the 2014 NEWMAC Championship. [Courtesy MIT Athletics]

The Emerson Lions would like to thank all their fans for the support this season, as well as wish senior guards Eli Kell-Abrams and Mike Lucas all the very best, as tonight the duo played the final basketball game of their college careers.