THE BASICS 

Score: WPI 65, Emerson 63

Records: Emerson Lions (8-8, 3-2 NEWMAC) ; WPI Engineers (12-4, 3-2 NEWMAC) 

Location: Worcester, Mass. (Harrington Auditorium)

Date: Wednesday, January 16th, 2019

The Lead: Emerson Men's Basketball team was unable to overcome a 19 point first half deficit to the Engineers, falling two points short despite a game high 20 points from senior Geoffrey Gray (Newton, Mass.).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Gray led all scorers with 20 points, adding nine rebounds, three assists, and two steals. 
• Freshmen duo Zach Waterhouse (Hampton, N.H.) and Jarred Houston (Norwood, Mass.) both tallied double figures, with 14 and 12 points respectively. Houston added eight rebounds. 
• Kahleb Downing led all scorers for WPI with 15 points off of the bench. 
• Logan O'Donnell added 14 while Colin McNamara and Dakota Wheeler each had 11 points for the engineers.  
• Reid Walker was the games high rebounder with 10.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Both teams traded baskets to open the game, with WPI grabbing a small one point lead 12-11 five minutes into the contest.
• WPI then went on a 23-5 run to open up a 19 point lead on the Lions with just over five minutes remaining in the first half.
• Emerson responded with a 17-8 run of their own to close out the first half, cutting WPI's lead visually in half at 43-33. The run was headlined by a conventional three point play by Ben Holding (South Dartmouth, Mass.) . 
• The Lions continued their scoring to start the second half, grabbing the lead back at 48-47 with 13:41 remaining on a Houston layup.
• The teams traded baskets throughout the rest of the game, with no team opening up more than a four point lead.
• WPI lead 65-62 with just over four minutes remaining.  Both teams went cold, with Houston hitting one of two free throws with just under thirty seconds remaining as the final point scored.
• Emerson fell to the WPI engineers 65-63 in regulation, bringing both teams' conference records to 3-2.

UP NEXT 

• Emerson continues road conference play at Wheaton on Saturday, January 19th with an early 11:00 a.m. tip-off.
• WPI will travel to take on Worcester counterpart Clark in a NEWMAC matchup on Saturday as well, with the game starting at 3:00 p.m.

STAY LIVE WITH THE LIONS

• Stay updated on the Emerson men's basketball team and follow the Lions on Twitter, Facebook at Emerson College Men's Basketball as well as on Instagram. Also be sure to tune into Emerson Channel Sports to catch the Lions in action!