Top-Ranked Men's Basketball Takes Down No. 14 WPI Friday, 67-55

WORCESTER, Mass. - In a highly anticipated non-conference clash between two nationally-ranked teams, the No. 1 University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team stood up to its top billing, and the Blue Jays took down the No. 14 Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Engineers, 67-55, Friday afternoon inside Harrington Auditorium in Worcester, Mass. With the victory, the Blue Jays remained undefeated and improved to 10-0 overall on the season, while the Engineers dipped to 8-2 with the setback.

GAME INFORMATION 
Score: #1 Saint Joseph 67, #14 Worcester Polytechnic 55
Records: #1 USJ (10-0), #14 WPI (8-2) 
Location: Harrington Auditorium (Worcester, Mass.)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Setting up for a defensive battle, the game featured the top two teams in all of NCAA Division III men's basketball in opponent points per game. WPI entered the contest leading the nation at 53.3 points allowed per game, while USJ was second, averaging 55.7 points allowed per game to opponents. 

USJ's graduate student guard Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, adding six rebounds. Senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) finished with 14 points, while senior guard Tyree Mitchell (East Hartford, Conn.) chipped in with 13 on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor. Graduate student forward Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.) paced the Blue Jays on the glass with eight rebounds. 

John Lowther (Hingham, Mass.) led the Engineers with 17 points, adding a game-best 13 rebounds to round out his second double-double of the season. Aidan Callahan (Rowley, Mass.) and Andrew Lufkin (Auburn, N.H.) each added 12 points, while John Adams (Douglas, Mass.) pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss.  

USJ's Mitchell and WPI's Lowther each dropped 13 first-half points for their respective squads, as the teams played the first 20 minutes to a 31-31 tie. After tight opening action, WPI used a 7-2 run to take a 16-11 lead with 10:04 to play in the frame, the largest advantage for either team to that point. 

The Blue Jays cut the lead to 21-19 on a three from O'Neill with 5:40 to play in the first half and continued the run with back-to-back three's from Mitchell and a pair of free throws from O'Neill to put the visitors up 29-25 with 2:59 left in the half. The Engineers answered with a late surge though, as three free throws followed by a three from Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, Calif.) put WPI up 31-29 with 20 seconds remaining. However, Mitchell came up clutch with a buzzer-beating layup to deadlock the game at 31-31 entering the break.

The Engineers struck first in the second half with a three from Lowther to start the scoring. From there, Saint Joseph got hot from beyond the arc, and put together a game-breaking 19-3 run that put the Blue Jays up 50-37 with 12:25 remaining in regulation. O'Neill, senior guard Delshawn Jackson Jr. (Hartford, Conn.), and graduate student forward Jake Sullivan (Branford, Conn.) all connected from distance during the run, matching the total number of team threes for USJ in the entire first half. 

Callahan broke the WPI scoreless drought with a three of his own at the 12:07 mark to cut the lead to 10 (50-40), but the Blue Jays surged once more. After trading points on the ensuing four possessions, a 7-3 run, with all seven points coming from O'Neill, put USJ up 61-48 with 3:34 to play.

The Saint Joseph advantage increased to as many as 15 points down the stretch and the Blue Jays' defense was able to stave off any sense of a comeback by the Engineers, as the top-ranked team closed out the 67-55 victory on the road. 

USJ shot 50.0% (16-32) from the field and held WPI to 32.1% (9-28) shooting in the second half. For the game, the Blue Jays out-shot WPI, 42.6% (26-61) to 29.7% (19-64), while rebounds (42-42) and turnovers (USJ 10-9) were nearly even. The lead changed hands nine separate times and the score was tied on four occasions.

UP NEXT

Men's basketball is off until after the New Year and returns back to the hardwood on Tuesday, January 3 for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest at home versus the Johnson & Wales University Wildcats. Tipoff between the Blue Jays and Wildcats is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. Tickets to attend Tuesday night's game can be purchased by visiting www.usjbluejays.com/tickets. Fans who cannot make it to West Hartford can watch all of the action live by visiting https://portal.stretchinternet.com/usj/.