WORCESTER -- The WPI basketball team walked away with its fifth Ted Coghlin Tournament Championship title with a 69-49 wire-to-wire victory over Saint Joseph's (ME) on Sunday afternoon at Harrington Auditorium.
The tournament MVP Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) finished the game with a game-high 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting, adding four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in the title game.
WPI continued its hot streak to start the season, improving to 3-0 with the win while Saint Joseph's falls to 1-1 on the year.
In addition to Callahan's MVP efforts, he was joined in the double-digit scoring club by Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, CA) who had an 11-point, four steal effort while Nathan Bledsoe (San Antonio, TX) tacked on 10 points off the bench, going 2-for-4 from deep in 14 minutes of action. John Adams (Douglas, MA) added seven points and pulled in 10 rebounds.
Saint Joseph's was led by a 10 point outing from Ashtyn Abbot (Farmingdale, ME), who added three rebounds, a pair of assists and a steal while Julian Llopiz (Boston, MA) and Drew Shea (Bar Harbor, ME) added eight points and Shea pulled down four rebounds in the outing.
WPI only allowed one basket, an Abbott layup, en route to an 18-2 start to the game over the first 8:28 of action as six different Engineers combined for the 18 points, led by Callahan's five and J.R. Newman's
That lead would grow to 25 via a Sevilla trey as WPI captured a 30-5 lead at the 6:06 mark of the first half, holding the Monks to under 10 points until the 18th minute of the game.
A Shea driving layup broke the double-digit barrier with 2:27 left in the game but WPI responded immediately with a Newman layup and Bledsoe 3-pointer en route to a 44-14 halftime lead.
The Monks started the second off on a 7-1 game to make it a 45-21 ballgame before WPI answered with a pair of free throws and a Jack Bleier trey to build its lead back up to 29.
The two teams continued to trade baskets down the stretch, and Saint Joseph's outscored the Engineers 35-25 in the second half, but the damage was already done and WPI claimed the tournament title.
WPI shot 41.1 percent from the field (23-of-56) while Saint Joseph's was held to a 36.4 shooting percentage (16-of-44). The Engineers connected on nine treys in the ballgame while the Monks had just a pair. Both teams had numerous attempts from the free throw line as Saint Joseph's finished with a 15-of-20 effort while WPI went 14-of-21.
The Engineers outrebounded (37-28), out assisted (17-9) and outscored the Monks with points off turnovers (28-11) finishing with 12 steals on the day.
WPI looks to keep its winning ways going when it heads to the Bridgewater State Tournament next Friday and Saturday, November 17-18. The Engineers will start the tournament off against Johnson & Wales University on Friday night at 7:30pm. Saint Joseph's will be back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 15 when they head to Southern Maine at 7:30pm.
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