CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Trailing by three points at halftime, the MIT men's basketball team outscored visiting Wentworth by 13 points in the second half to earn an 80-70 non-conference victory on Saturday afternoon at Rockwell Cage.
MIT sophomore Isaac Dobie (Kitty Hawk, N.C.) scored 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting to lead all scorers, adding three rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks on the day. Classmate Merlin Gogolin (New York, N.Y.) added 18 points and 8 rebounds to go along with three assists, a block and two steals for the Engineers.
THE BASICS:
- Scores: MIT 80, Wentworth 70
- Records: MIT (7-4 Overall), Wentworth (1-7 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- No more than three points separated the Engineers and the Leopards through the game's opening ten minutes before MIT took a five-point edge when junior Parker Spann (Omaha, Neb.) dropped in a layup to give the Engineers a 17-12 lead at 10:56.
- Donovan Holway (Belmont, Mass.) hit a three-pointer on the next Wentworth possession to trim the lead back to two. However, senior Kade Killeen (Austin, Texas) countered with an MIT three on the ensuing Engineers possession to push MIT back ahead by six, 20-14 at 10:15.
- MIT's six-point advantage was the largest of the first half for either team and Wentworth would quickly erase it with an 11-2 run over the next three and a half minutes of play. A pair of free throws from Nathan Brinkman (Trumbull, Conn.) pulled the visitors ahead, 25-22 with 6:36 left in the half.
- A 9-2 MIT run flipped the score back in favor of the hosts, as a Dobie layup at 3:56 put MIT up four, 31-27, but Wentworth scored the final seven points of the half to take a 34-31 lead into the break.
- Back-to-back layups from Spann and Gogolin put MIT back ahead, 35-34, in the opening minute of the second half. The Engineers would go on to build a seven-point lead at the 14:48 mark following a layup from Rome Delgado-Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) but Wentworth continued to stick around, trimming the lead back to three points at both the 14:00 and 12:50 marks of the second half.
- With MIT leading 50-47, Dobie knocked in a three-pointer to increase the lead to 53-47. The triple ignited a 14-0 run that put the game out of reach, as MIT took a 64-47 lead at 8:53 following a layup from Delgado-Gonzalez.
- Wentworth was able to cut the MIT lead to single digits, when a Nathaniel Smith (Beacon Falls, Conn.) jumper at 3:42 made the score 70-62, but the Leopards were unable to rally late as MIT scored on the next three possessions to push the lead back to 15 points, 77-62, before going on to win, 80-70.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Dobie and Gogolin were two of the five MIT scorers in double figures, along with senior Spencer Lin (Menlo Park, Calif.), Spann, and Delgado-Gonzalez. Lin scored 13 points, while Spann finished with 11 and Delgado-Gonzalez added 10.
- Lin and Delgado-Gonzalez each matched Dobie with four assists. Lin is among the top-five NEWMAC's leaders in assists, averaging four assists per game through 11 games this season.
- MIT has now won three-straight after dropping three straight games. The Engineers' last three-game win streak was in 2021-22.
UP NEXT:
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MIT will continue the NEWMAC season on the other side of semester break when the Engineers travel to take on Salve Regina on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 7:00 PM. Wentworth will travel to Miami Gardens, Fla. To play in the Cruzin' Classic, December 19-20.
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