Worcester, Mass. – Down by as many as 14 in the second half, Clark University fought back to force overtime but the fifth-ranked MIT Engineers held strong and held on for a 63-60 overtime win on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action.

With the win the Engineers claim their sixth consecutive victory to improve to 22-1 overall and take possession of their second outright conference regular season title in the last three seasons.

Clark, meanwhile, drops its second straight overtime game this week to slip to 10-12 overall and 3-7 in league play.

After scoring just 17 first half points, the Cougars found themselves down 33-19 following a Billy Bender (The Woodlands, Texas) triple at the 16:30 mark. Clark slowly chipped away, trimming the lead to five at 33-28 after five straight points from Travis Curley (Trumbull, Conn.).

A three-point play from D.J. Bailey (Palmer, Mass.) had the score at 37-33, but MIT had an answer, eventually pushing their edge back into double digits following some tough interior play from Andrew Acker (Merion Station, Pa.).

After Acker nailed a pair of free throws to make the score 50-38, the Cougars embarked on an 11-0 run highlighted by a Mitch Renshaw (Rutland, Mass.) stop and pop three-pointer and a two-handed dunk by Bailey made the score 52-51 with less than a minute left.

Bailey tied the game a few possessions later when he split a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left and both teams had a final chance to end the game in regulation but neither team could convert.

Noel Hollingsworth (Salt Lake City, Utah) opened up the extra stanza with an inside hoop but Renshaw tied the game with jumper of his own moments later.

MIT answered back with a deep three from Bender and a steal and finish from Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, N.J.) to make the score 59-54.

Clark failed to score on its next possession and then after six consecutive offensive rebounds by the Engineers on a single possession, Jamie Karraker (Morgantown, W.Va.) split a pair of free throws to give MIT a six point edge with less than a minute left.

Curley took a handoff from Drew Billington (Fairfield, Conn.) and dropped in a three-pointer to keep things close. Another split of free throws by MIT, this time by Will Tashman (Atherton, Calif.), Curley nailed another from behind the arc, cutting the lead to one.

Daniel McCue (Hampden, Maine) made both of his free throws with seven seconds left and Clark raced the length of the court but could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

MIT controlled the interior, holding a 41-31 edge on the glass and a 28-20 advantage in the paint. The Cougars forced 20 turnovers and held the Engineers to 39 percent shooting.

Clark, meanwhile, connected on nearly 46 percent of its attempts, but committed 17 turnovers and went just 10-for-21 from the free throw line.

Kates posted 16 points and five assists for the victors, who also got 12 points, six rebounds and four steals from Bender.

Acker added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Tashman chipped in with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Clark was paced by both Bailey and Curley who each had 16 points and Renshaw collected 11 in 30 minutes of action.

By virtue of their outright conference title, MIT earns the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament and the automatic bye into the semifinals that comes along with it. In addition, they will be the host team for this year's tournament -  a place they are 11-1 at this season.

The Cougars, meanwhile, remain in the hunt for a postseason berth. They close out the season with road contests at Tufts on Monday and then home on Wednesday against Springfield and at WPI next Saturday.