SPRINGFIELD, Mass., February 18, 2006 – Mike D’Auria scored a team-high 18 points, including an 8-foot running one-hander with 2.1 seconds remaining, to give his MIT men’s basketball team a 62-61 win over Springfield College in the regular-season New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference finale for both squads at Springfield’s Blake Arena this afternoon.

The win raised MIT’s record to 18-7 overall, and 8-4 in the NEWMAC. MIT has now guaranteed itself at least a tie for second place in the conference. But if Coast Guard can beat Clark later this afternoon, then Coast Guard will also finish in a tie for second and take the #2-seed away from MIT in the NEWMAC post-season tourney.

Springfield College, meanwhile, finishes its regular season at 10-15 overall and 5-7 within the conference. The Pride now knows it will play at Wheaton on Tuesday night (Feb. 21) at 7 pm. When Springfield lost, Wheaton guaranteed itself a first-round home game in the NEWMAC Tourney. The winner of that game on Tuesday will play #1-seed WPI next Saturday (Feb. 25) at WPI.

Today’s contest was exciting and close throughout. Springfield had a 5-point lead on two occasions, including once at the half (28-23), while MIT led by 5 on one occasion in the second half (50-45) with 7:15 remaining. There were three lead changes in the last 1:03 of the game.

SC senior guard Derek Yvon (East Longmeadow, Mass./Cathedral HS), who led all scorers with 24 points, gave the Pride a 57-53 lead with 3:29 left when he made a short jumper. But MIT’s 6-4 freshman guard Jimmy Bartolotta (Littleton, Colo./Heritage HS) made two free throws with 3:12 left to cut it to two.

Springfield senior center Brian Riley (Worcester, Mass./St. Mary’s HS) then made a lay-up with 2:30 left, giving the Pride another 4-point advantage. But Bartolotta hit two more free throws with 2:07 left, and SC’s lead was down to two again.

Following a missed SC jumper with 1:36 left, MIT called a timeout with 1:06 left on the clock overall and just 7 seconds left on the 35-second shot clock. The Engineers then found senior guard Danny Kanamori (Brookline, Mass.,/Brookline HS) free for a 3-pointer with 1:03 left. That bucket gave MIT a 60-59 lead.

The starring Riley, who had 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, then scored a tough 6-foot bank shot from down low with 37 seconds left to give Springfield its last lead. For Riley, it was his 6th double-double in the last 7 games.

With only a one-second difference between the shot clock and the game clock, it appeared MIT might be going for the final shot. MIT called two consecutive timeouts with 13 seconds to go. With 5 seconds left, D’Auria, a 6-2 senior guard from Newton, Mass. and Newton South HS, had the ball just beyond the top of the key and bobbled it for a slight moment. But he then regained control, drove the lane, and stopped for the 8-footer, the ball swishing with 2.1 seconds to go.

After a timeout, on the ensuing play, Springfield threw the ball the length of the court on the inbounds, but the ball was intercepted, and MIT ran out the clock.

The only other double figure scorer for Springfield was junior guard Anthony Pizzo (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa HS) with 10 points. For MIT, Kanamori finished with 17 points. Will Mroz, a sophomore guard from Evergreen, Colo., finished with 10 points, all in the second half.

published: 02/18/2006