THE BASICS:

- Score: MIT 76, Emerson 67

- Records: MIT (13-4, 5-1 NEWMAC); Emerson (4-13, 0-6 NEWMAC)

- Location: Boston, Mass. (Brown & Plofker Gym)

- The Lead: In NEWMAC play on Saturday afternoon, the MIT men's basketball team got back in the win column with a 76-67 wire-to-wire road victory over Emerson College. The Engineers, who are receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com National Poll, are currently one game back of first place in the NEWMAC standings.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- MIT got off to a quick 9-0 start as sophomore Cameron Korb (Los Gatos, Calif.) knocked down three straight three-pointers over the first 2:27 of play. The Engineer lead swelled to as many as 17 at 26-9 after a three from senior Tim Butala (Monroe, Conn.) at the 11:11 mark, but the Lions cut the edge down to seven twice in the period. The final time came at the half as Corey Fitz hit a three with 10 seconds left that made it 35-28 MIT at the break.

- Emerson sliced the lead to just six at 44-38 early in the second after a jumper from Alex Mrusek as the hosts hung tough. After Ben Holding's three-point play made it a 60-55 game with 7:16 remaining, Butala answered with a jumper for MIT with 6:22 left to end the Lions run. John Gerry connected a three-pointer for Emerson at the 5:36 mark to close to within 62-58, but the Engineers hit seven free throws over the final 1:23 to seal the win and improve to 6-2 on the road this season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Korb was the team's leading scorer with 24 points and he hit six three-pointers on the day. Sophomore Dakota Pierce (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) posted 15 points, nine assists on seven rebounds behind five three-pointers, while Butala finished with 21 points and eight rebounds. For the game, MIT held a 39-34 rebounding edge that included a 13-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

- Geoffrey Gray paced Emerson with a near triple-double as he finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Holding and Fitz also added 12 points each off the bench.

- MIT held a convincing 21-11 advantage in points off turnovers as the Engineers forced 15 Lions turnovers overall.

UP NEXT:

- MIT is back in action on Wednesday, January 25th as the Engineers travel to Wheaton College for a 7 p.m. start.

STAY CONNECTED:

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