Steele put the Engineers up for good when he drained his second of back-to-back three-pointers with 5:37 remaining to give WPI a 67-65 advantage. Springfield led throughout most of the contest including a 10-point bulge midway through the first half. The Pride took a 38-36 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
Ryan Cain (Webster, MA) added 19 points for WPI while Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) and Ryan Flynn (Hamilton, MA) pitched in with 14 and 13 points respectively. Steele and Flynn highlighted a strong performance from the WPI bench, which outscored their Springfield counterparts by a 48-5 margin. The Engineers received a boost from seldom-used freshman guard Adam Lirette (Dover, NH). Lirette rattled off five straight points during a key WPI run midway through the second half.
Springfield was paced by Brian Riley (Worcester, MA), who notched his fifth double-double in the past six games by netting 18 points and collecting 13 rebounds. Damian Farley (Natick, MA) led all Pride scorers with 20 points while Derek Yvon (East Longmeadow, MA), the NEWMAC’s top scorer, added 19 and Mike DeCesar (Acton, MA) chipped in with 11. Point guard Anthony Pizzo (Clifton Park, NY) tied his career-high with 10 assists.
As the regular season champions, WPI (20-3, 9-3 NEWMAC) earns a first round bye in next week’s NEWMAC Tournament and will host the semifinals and championship games next Saturday and Sunday. The win snapped the Engineers two game losing streak and gives them their third consecutive 20-win season.
With the loss, Springfield sees its season-best five-game winning streak come to an end. The Pride (10-14, 5-6 NEWMAC) will close out the regular season Saturday by entertaining MIT at 1pm. SC enters the final weekend of conference play tied for fourth and can earn a home game in the first round with a win versus MIT and a Wheaton loss to Babson.
Newspaper Box Score Springfield vs WPI 2/14/06 7:30pm at Worcester, MA At Worcester, MA WPI 83, SPRINGFIELD 76 SPRINGFIELD (10-14, 5-6) Damian Farley 8-15 4-5 20; Derek Yvon 6-13 2-3 19; Brian Riley 7-14 4-8 18; Mike DeCesar 4-12 0-0 11; Jim Mack 1-5 2-2 5; Anthony Pizzo 0-3 3-6 3; Gregg Daly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 15-24 76. WPI (20-3, 9-3) Brian Steele 6-6 5-8 21; Ryan Cain 5-14 6-6 19; Antoine Coleman 5-5 2-2 14; Ryan Flynn 4-10 4-5 13; Sean Ivey 2-2 1-5 5; James Marois 1-4 2-2 5; Adam Lirette 2-2 1-1 5; Brett Dickson 0-0 1-2 1; Ryan Bourque 0-1 0-0 0; Mike Prestileo 0-3 0-0 0; Steve Furber 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-48 22-31 83. Springfield................... 38 38 - 76 WPI........................... 36 47 - 83 3-point goals-Springfield 9-21 (Derek Yvon 5-10; Mike DeCesar 3-7; Jim Mack 1-3; Anthony Pizzo 0-1), WPI 11-22 (Brian Steele 4-4; Ryan Cain 3-7; Antoine Coleman 2-2; James Marois 1-2; Ryan Flynn 1-4; Mike Prestileo 0-2; Steve Furber 0-1). Fouled out--Springfield-Anthony Pizzo; Derek Yvon, WPI-Antoine Coleman. Rebounds-Springfield 36 (Brian Riley 13), WPI 34 (Brian Steele 7). Assists-Springfield 17 (Anthony Pizzo 10), WPI 13 (Antoine Coleman 4). Total fouls-Springfield 26, WPI 23. A-350