Engineers top Seahawks in ECAC finals

WORCESTER, Mass. - Jaime Shannon (Lowell, Mass.) scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half to lead WPI to the  ECAC Division III New England Men's Basketball Championship with a 87-66 win over Salve Regina on Sunday at the Harrington Auditorium.

With the victory, WPI (20-7) has reached the 20-win plateau for nine consecutive seasons, the second longest such streak in the country behind only Wooster of Ohio which has 16. Salve Regina concludes its campaign with a 21-10 mark.

In a first half of runs, WPI jumped out to 10-2 lead in the opening minutes, as the veteran Engineers broke down the Seahawks' full-court press. Four different players scored WPI's first four field goals.

Salve Regina answered with a 10-0 rally, capped off by drive to the hoop for a layup by William Smiley (Saunderstown, R.I.). The Crimson and Gray responded in kind, going up 20-15 on a jumper by Domenick Mastascusa (North Reading, Mass.) with 10:13 remaining in the half.

The Seahawks repeatedly cut the lead to one only to watch the Engineers reel off 14 straight points to take a 40-23 lead on a Ryan Kolb (Southington, Conn.) 3-pointer with 2:50 left in the period. WPI held Salve Regina scoreless for nearly five minutes during that stretch.

Scott St. Lawrence (Litchfield, N.H.) hit a jumper as the horn sounded for the Seahawks, but the teams still went into halftime with WPI leading 43-28. Matt Carr (Somersworth, N.H.) led all scorers in the opening half with 15 points for WPI, making six of his eight shots from the floor.

The Engineers looked to deliver the knockout punch as the second half got underway, scoring the first seven points of the period with five of those coming from Shannon. WPI led by as many as 27 when Shannon hit a jumper with 13:20 remaining in the game, putting the Crimson and Gray up 64-37.

Salve Regina attempted to make a game of it late, using a 9-0 run capped off by a Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) jumper to cut the lead to 16 with 6:01 left on the clock. But it was too little, too late as WPI looked to Shannon for the answer as the senior hit a 3-pointer to slow the Seahawk momentum, putting the game out of reach. With 1:12 seconds left, both teams subbed for their graduating seniors, drawing applause from an appreciative crowd.

Smiley came off the bench to lead Salve Regina with 20 points, six rebounds and two steals, while shooting 8-of-12 from the field. Smiley scored 16 of his points in the second period, attempting to rally the Seahawks. Dinneen finished with 18 points with two steals. Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) had a team-high eight rebounds while Isiah Pringle (Queens, N.Y.) added seven points with four steals. Ryan Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) had eight points.

Courtesy of WPI Sports Information