BOSTON, Mass. -- Five Engineers finished in double figures, paced by Parker Spann's game-high 22 points, as the MIT men's basketball team defeated Emerson College, 86-77, in NEWMAC men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium.
MIT built a double-digit first half lead and never trailed after halftime. The Engineers snapped an eight-game skid while earning the team's second conference victory of the season. Spann and Wyatt Mowery each secured eight rebounds, with Mowery also adding 14 points and six blocks.
THE BASICS:
- Score: MIT 86, Emerson 77
- Records: MIT 6-16 overall (2-11 NEWMAC); Emerson 8-13 overall (4-8 NEWMAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Spann scored the first five MIT points, as the Engineers opened the game on a 10-2 run to take an eight-point lead at 16:24.
- Back-to-back Emerson buckets from Guillermo Gasset Ruiz and Jacob Armant made the score 10-7 at 15:31. Another MIT run was met by an Emerson rally with MIT continuing to lead by three, 15-12, at the 10:01 mark.
- The Engineers took control of the contest with a 14-3 run over the next five minutes of play. Mowery, Merlin Gogolin, Michael Zhang and Rome Delgado-Gonzalez all hit threes as part of the run with the last coming from Delgado-Gonzalez at 5:11 to give MIT a 29-15 lead.
- MIT would lead by as many as 15 points before taking an eight-point lead into the break, 37-29.
- The visitors never trailed after halftime. Emerson trimmed the lead to seven 1:16 into the second half, but Delgado-Gonzalez followed with a three at 17:57 to stretch the lead back into double figures, 43-33.
- MIT would go on to lead by as many as 18 points at multiple points during the second half, including at 14:48 following an Isaac Dobie layup and at 9:50 when a layup from Gogolin made the score 59-41.
- The Engineers final 18-point lead of the afternoon came at 2:52 when Zhang connected on a pair of free throws to give MIT a 77-59 advantage.
- Emerson closed the gap over the final two and a half minutes but never threatened as MIT closed out the 86-77 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- MIT knocked down 13-of-26 (50%) of its attempts from beyond the arc, shooting 31-of-54 (57%) overall from the floor.
- Emerson was limited to 24-of-62 (46.43%) shooting and 10-of-31 (33.33%) from long range.
- MIT outscored Emerson, 30-18, in the paint but Emerson had a 36-34 rebounding advantage.
- Zhang added 15 points and Delgado-Gonzalez chipped in 12 for the Engineers while Gogolin scored eight points in eight minutes.
- Isaac Dobie scored 11 points for MIT and now has 939 in his career.
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