A season low 17.4% shooting from outside (4-23) was too much for MIT overcome, as they fell in the NEWMAC semifinals to Clark this afternoon at Rockwell Cage, 71-59. Clark, on the other hand, shot well all night, going 51% from the field and 48% from deep. MIT was led by Noel Hollingsworth who scored 30 points and added 9 rebounds. MIT missed the presence of Billy Bender, who was out for the second consecutive game with injury. In his absence, the MIT guards shot a combined 0-10 from 3.MIT came out of the gates on fire, taking a 17-4 lead 4.5 minutes into the contest. Undeterred, Clark mounted a 15-2 run to knot the game at 19 by the 9 minute mark of the first half. MIT thought they had weathered the storm, scoring 3 points to take the lead back 22-19, but Clark had other ideas as they went on a 15-0 run to take a 12 point lead with 2.5 minutes remaining in the half. MIT would not go away, as they went on a 9-0 run of their own, making the halftime margin 34-31 Clark.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were highly-contested, as there were 5 lead changes and 3 ties. However, with MIT up 49-47 with just under 13 minutes to play in the game, Clark went on a 13-2 run over a 6 minute stretch that MIT would not be able to recoup from. Clark would push the lead to double digits in the final 2.5 minutes of the contest, and were able to hold the lead for a 71-59 win.
Official MIT Release
MIT will now have to hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. NCAA selections will be made tomorrow, Sunday, February 28, and will be released via webcast on Sunday morning starting at 10:00 AM. The webcast link can be found on the NCAA website. Clark will play the winner of the WPI/Springfield matchup, slated for later this afternoon.
