Despite putting forth their best defensive effort, the hot shooting of the Engineers was just too much to handle for the Hawks. WPI hit 8 of 11 three point field goals and shot 56% from the floor en route to a 17 point halftime lead at 41-24. Roger Williams had a better day in terms of shooting percentage, but the Hawks just couldn’t match the first half out-put of WPI. The first half hole was too big and the Royal Blue and Gold found themselves fighting to get out of it all day.
Leading the way for the Engineers was senior Mike Prestileo (South Windsor, CT) who had a game high 21 points. Fellow senior Ryan Flynn (Hamilton, MA) had 14 and sophomore Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) added 13. The Engineers also enjoyed a tremendous lead in the rebounding battle at 36-19.
After being down by as many as 21 points in the second half, the Hawks were able to cut the lead to only 10 points with just under 2 minutes remaining. However, the Hawks couldn’t manage to cut into the Engineer lead any further and WPI walked away with the win.
The loss drops the Hawks to 1-6 overall, while WPI was able to improve on its already impressive undefeated start and move to 9-0. Roger Williams returns to action after the New Year when they play at Johnson and Wales University on January 3, tip-off is at 7:00PM.