THE BASICS:
 
- Score: Rhode Island College 90, MIT 81
 
- Records: MIT (1-1), Rhode Island College (2-0)
 
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Rockwell Cage)
 
- The Lead: A 24-11 run on the backstretch of the second half from Rhode Island College helped to propel the Anchormen to a 90-81 victory over the MIT men's basketball team on Friday evening in the Engineers' home opener. MIT did not quit, finishing the game on a 20-3 run, but did not have enough time to finish the comeback as the Anchormen hung on for the victory.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
- MIT jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead behind the shooting of first years Michael Zhang (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Merlin Gogolin (New York, N.Y.) before RIC raced out to a 9-0 run over the next 4:23 thanks to six points from Ousmane Kourouma to make it a 13-9 ballgame.
 
- A Zhang trey at 6:16 got MIT within one point, down 25-24 but the offense would be heavily in favor of RIC for the next four minutes as the Anchormen utilized a 13-4 run, spearheaded by seven points from Jerrell McCready to take a 38-28 lead with 1:52 to go.
 
- MIT ended the first half on a 7-3 run, behind a trio of scorers, to make it a 41-35 game at the intermission, with the visitors holding the advantage.
 
- The Engineers made it a five-point game behind a Zhang trey with 18:12 left in the second half, but that was as close as they would get it as RIC started to pull away despite the success of the three-pointer from MIT. Deyshawn Tengbeh sunk nine points during an 18-11 run that made it a 63-48 game in favor of the Anchormen midway through the second half.
 
- RIC utilized a 24-11 run to gain an 87-61 lead, but the Engineers would not quit, finishing the game on a 20-3 run thanks to a 4-of-6 spurt from behind the arc to make it a 90-81. The Anchormen hung on for the win despite their entire offense coming via three free throws in the final four minutes of action.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Zhang paced the Engineers with 24 points via four three-pointers and a perfect 6-of-6 night from the charity stripe in just 29 minutes of action. Sophomore Tim Minicozzi (Belmont, Mass.) added 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including three treys, four rebounds and four steals. Gogolin and first year Will Bland (Virginia Beach, Va.) added 10 points apiece as Bland also tacked on four rebounds and four assists.
 
- Rhode Island College was paced by a 19-point effort from Tengbeh who shot 7-of-9 from the field, while also adding a stat in every column finishing with six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Kourouma finished with a double-double adding 16 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
 
- The Anchormen led the way in rebounds (40-34), points in the paint (54-26), points off turnovers (25-11), second-chance points (11-7), and bench scoring (40-34).
 
- MIT shot an outstanding 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the floor but were bested by an astounding 51.5 percent day for Rhode Island College (34-66).
 
- The Engineers finished with a 37.8 percent (14-of-37) shooting percentage from three-point range, and were 13-of-15 from the free throw line (86.7 percent)
 
- Rhode Island College added a 33.3 percent mark (7-of-21) from behind the arc, and 68.2 percent (15-of-22) at the charity stripe.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT returns to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 15 for the team's second game of the five-game homestand when they take on Endicott College at 7 p.m. Rhode Island College returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at Regis College, also at 7 p.m.
 
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