WPI Defeats Men's Basketball 101-64 in Worcester County Classic Championship

WPI 101, Worcester State 64

Box Score

Worcester, MA --- Tournament MVP Jeff Robinson (Granby, CT) poured in a career-best 29 points to help lead WPI to a 101-64 win over Worcester State this evening to earn their seventh straight Worcester County Classic Monday evening at Harrington Auditorium.

It marked the second consecutive night that Robinson hit a new career high in scoring. The junior connected on 10-for-20 from the field with three 3-pointers after dropping in 28 points in an opening round victory over Becker.

With a 14-10 lead at the 14:10 mark in the first half, WPI went on an eight minute 26-6 run to take a commanding 40-16 edge for their largest advantage of the half. Worcester State then put down the clamps on the Crimson and Gray offense and closed out the period with an 18-6 spurt to trail 46-34 at the break.

The Lancers got as close as six points (48-41) early in the second half on a lay-up by freshman Monte Goodwin (Boston, MA), but the Engineers scored 15 unanswered points – with a trio of 3-three-pointers – to take control of the contest.

WPI (2-0) got a strong performance from its bench, getting 18 and 15 points from Ryan Brown (Worcester, MA) and Fernando Perez (Lowell, MA), respectively. Brown drained five 3-poiners while Ben Etten (Hollis, NH) hauled in a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with nine points. Freshman Craig Melillo (Wilmington, MA) added eight points in just five minutes of action.

Worcester State (1-1) was paced by Maurice Horton (Detroit, MI). The senior flirted with a triple-double, registering 14 points, nine boards and seven assists. Tim Henault (Lunenburg, MA) added 14 points while Goodwin gobbled up 10 rebounds and tallied seven points.

Joining Robinson on the All-Tournament team was Etten, Horton, Ryan Testagrossa (Athol, MA) of Worcester State, Bryan Riley (West Boylston, MA) of Nichols and Rajai Leggett (New Haven, MA) of Becker. Earlier in the day, Nichols took the consolation game with a 76-73 win over the Hawks.

The Engineers have won six straight dating back to the 2002-03 season while the 100 point victory is the 38th time the Boynton Hillers have reached the milestone.

WPI returns to the court on Saturday at 2pm when the Engineers host Salem State in a matchup of two teams that won NCAA Tournament games last March. In a scheduling oddity, the Lancers will travel to Nichols on Thursday at 7pm in a rematch of Sunday’s Worcester County Classic contest.

Release Courtesy of WPI Sports Information