Box Score THE BASICS
Score: WPI 62, Emerson 61
Records: Emerson Lions (4-16, 0-8 NEWMAC); WPI Engineers (14-6, 5-4 NEWMAC)
Location: Boston, Mass. (Brown & Plofker Gym)
Date: February 1, 2017
The Lead: Behind a 16-point effort from junior John Geary (Duxbury, Mass.), the Emerson men's basketball fell short, 62-61, to WPI after the Engineer's Chris Rodgers sank a jumper with 1.1 left in regulation in NEWMAC action on Wednesday night.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Geary finished 5-for-10 with 16 points and 4-for-7 from beyond the three-point line.
- Sophomore Geoffrey Gray (Newton, Mass.) and junior Michael Sheng (Altadena, Calif.) each posted six rebounds each.
- Sheng also finished with a team-best four assists and two steals.
- Jake Wisniewski paced WPI with a game-high 17 points, while Aaron Todd and Connor Willgress racked up five rebounds each and Sean Doncaster registered 10 assists.
- Emerson beat WPI beyond the arc (45.5-20.0) and on the charity stripe (68.8-50.0) and finished 20-for-47 (42.6%) from the floor.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- WPI gained their biggest lead of 10 over Emerson at 17-7 at the 7:46 mark of the opening half on a triple by Doncaster.
- Emerson clawed their way back from WPI's 10-point deficit and answered with a 10-2 run to square the score at 19-all before the Engineers drained five points to go up 24-21.
- With 1:02 left to play in the opening frame, Geary canned a shot beyond the arc to even the score 24-all.
- Jamani Spencer sent up a three with two ticks on the clock to push WPI ahead, but it veered to the right and the half closed out squared at 24-24.
- The Lions carried its first half momentum into the second half and maintained its largest lead of four (36-32) at the 14:51 mark, but the Engineers answered with an 8-3 streak to go ahed by five point at 44-39 on a three from Willgress.
- Emerson surged and went up three on a triple by freshman Ben Holding (South Dartmouth, Mass.) at 53-50.
- Down by three with 1:48 left in regulation, Gray sank back-to-back jumpers from the lane to put Emerson on top at 61-60 before Chris Rodgers put up the game-winning bucket with a mere 1.1 seconds left to give WPI the 62-61 win.
UP NEXT
- Emerson heads off to Clark on Saturday, February 4 that is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.
- WPI heads back to Worcester for NEWMAC action on Saturday, February 4 as well to host Babson at 2:00 p.m.
STAY LIVE WITH THE LIONS
