Men’s basketball rolls past Newbury College, wins 91-76
Engineers shot 50 percent from behind the arc
Senior Will Tashman had a double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds as MIT rolled past Newbury College, 91-76. It was a good afternoon for three-point shooting in Rockwell Cage as the Engineers shot 50 percent from behind the arc and the Nighthawks hit 48 percent of their attempts, led by a 7-of-10 performance by Tim Young ’13, who finished with 25 points.
Newbury (2-4) used three-point shooting to keep the game close for most of the first half. Young’s first trey of the game put the Nighthawks up 5-4 a minute and half in and his second extended Newbury’s lead to 8-5 at the 17:41 mark. The game was back and forth over the first six minutes, with five lead changes and four ties.
Trailing by two, Newbury made the first move of the game. Started by a trey by junior Steve Rosemond that put the Nighthawks up by one, Newbury went on what turned out to be a 13-5 run. Young nailed a pair of threes and junior Kwame Thompson hit a layup with 10:15 left that put the Nighthawks up 27-21.
MIT (6-1) immediately responded, outscoring Newbury 9-2 over the next two and a half minutes to tie the game at 29-all on a pair of free throws by Mitchell Kates ’13. The Nighthawks took the lead back on another Thompson layup, but senior Jimmy Burke nailed a three that put MIT back in front for good. Led by back-to-back layups by Andrew M. Acker ’15, the Engineers went on to outscore Newbury, 12-5, the rest of the half to take a 44-36 lead into the locker room.
The first points of the second half came on another trey from Young, but the Nighthawks could not get any closer than five the rest of the way. MIT scored early on several times in the post before Matt M. Redfield ’15 hit a three at the 16:10 mark that gave the Engineers a double-digit lead at 54-44 and forced a Newbury timeout.
MIT increased its lead to 14 points on a Redfield basket before Newbury closed to within seven after a pair of free throws from Rosemond with 14 minutes left. Another Burke three, however, prevented the Nighthawks from getting any closer as the Engineers pulled their lead back to 15 points at 66-51 after a Tashman free throw with 12:48 left.
MIT maintained its double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the game. Newbury got the deficit back down to eight after Thompson hit on a layup, but by then there was only 1:47 left in the game. Ryan Frankel ’16 hit a triple to push the lead back to double figures as the Engineers went on to score the final seven points of the contest.
MIT placed five players in double figures in scoring, with Burke finishing with 16 points, Kates 15, and Redfield and Acker with 13 each. Rosemond finished with 20 points for Newbury, with senior Peterson Bernard adding eight points and leading the team with 10 rebounds. MIT outshot Newbury, 54.8 to 46.7 percent as well as finishing with a 42-27 advantage on the boards.
MIT will host UMass in its next game, taking on the Beacons next Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. in Rockwell Cage. Newbury will play again on Tuesday as well, hosting Wheelock College at 8:00 p.m.