WORCESTER, Mass. – The No. 5 Clark men's basketball team (15-12) traveled across town to No. 1 WPI (22-3) and trailed by one at the half, before falling 72-56 to the Engineers in the NEWMAC Semifinals on Thursday night from Harrington Auditorium.

With the WPI win, the Engineers will host Babson in the NEWMAC Championship on Saturday afternoon.

How it Happened

• Clark and WPI traded baskets early in the contest as the Cougars got points from junior Bruce Saintilus, sophomore Isaiah Taylor, and a layup from junior Mikey O'Brien with 15:04 remaining in the first half made it a 6-6 ballgame.
• After the Engineers went on a 9-3 run, O'Brien ended the WPI run with a made three-pointer off a feed from sophomore Kekoa McArdle and a pair of made free throws from sophomore Ian Calabrese got the Cougars within three at 17-14 with 10:10 left in the first half.
• Saintilus hit a three-pointer off a feed from O'Brien with 6:33 to go in the half to get Clark within two, and after a made layup from WPI's J.R. Newman, graduate student Joel Arteaga knocked down a pair of free throws to keep the deficit at 2 at 21-19.
• McArdle and Saintilus scored four of the games next six points to tie the game at 23-23 with 4:09 to go in the first half and a made three-pointer from Neumann gave Clark a 26-25 edge with 3:28 remaining in the half.
• McArdle scored the Cougars final hoop of the half with a made tip-in layup off a shot from Taylor as the Engineers took a 29-28 lead into the break.
• After WPI's Donovan Sevilla hit a layup to open the second half, Neumann responded with a triple to tie the game at 31-31.
• WPI's Aidan Callahan and O'Brien traded buckets on consecutive possessions before a made layup from McArdle with 16:38 to go in the half gave the Cougars a 35-34 lead.
• Taylor and Saintilus combined to score Clark's next five points as they extended the edge to 40-37 and six straight Cougar points as the scarlet and white took a 46-39 advantage with 12:16 remaining.
• Richard then hit a three-pointer with 11:09 to go in the second half to push the lead to as high as eight at 49-41, but the Engineers responded with a 13-0 run over the next five minutes of play led by a pair of triple's from Callahan as WPI held a 54-49 lead with 6:07 to play.
• Taylor hit a pair of free throws to end the run and got Clark back within three and hit two more free throws on the Cougars next possession, but Callahan scored on each of the Engineers possessions to take a 58-53 edge.
• WPI then scored the contests next 11 points to take a 69-53 lead and Saintilus netted Clark's final points of the season with a made triple from Saintilus off a feed from Neumann as the Engineers came away with the win.

Inside the Box Score

• The Cougars grabbed 32 rebounds in the contest.  
• O'Brien netted a team-high 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
• Saintilus added 11 points and pulled down four rebounds.
• Neumann also reached double-figures with 10 points.