Men’s Basketball Falls to WPI, 86-55

WORCSTER, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Jamal Hulum (Norfolk, Va.) and junior guard Walter Mfuko (Amherst, Mass.) scored eight points each off the bench but Worcester Polytechnic Institute's (WPI) Marco Coppola (Watertown, Mass.) scored a game high 28 points to help pace the Engineers to an 86-55 victory over the Blazers in Tuesday evening's non-conference men's basketball game in Worcester, Mass.

With the loss Elms slides to 0-3 on the season while WPI improves to 3-0 overall.

WPI opened up a 20-6 lead over the first 9:13 of the game before Mfuko swished a three-pointer to pull the Blazers to within 11 at 20-9.

With the score set at 31-15 with 1:36 to play in the first half, Elms' junior forward Darius Griffin (Winter Haven, Fla.) hit a jump shot and freshman guard Piere Simpson (East Hartford, Conn.) made two free throws and converted a jumper as the Blazers scored seven of the next 12 points to close out the first half and set the score 36-22.

Coppola converted a layup and Jaime Shannon (Lowell, Mass.) swished a pair of foul shots to extend WPI's lead to 40-22 just 39 seconds into the second half.

Blazers' layups by junior guard James Black (Baltimore, Md.) at the 17:11 mark and Hulum with 15:36 remaining in the game pulled Elms to within 15 but that's as close as Elms got as the Engineers extended their lead to as many as 32 on a jumper by Jameel Galloway (Randolph, Mass.) with 1:35 remaining en route to an 86-55 victory.

Hulum was 4 of 6 in 15 minutes off the bench for Elms, while Mfuko swished 3 of 6 from the field including a pair of three points as both finished with eight points to lead the Blazers offensively.

Simpson was a perfect 3 for 3 from the field and totaled seven points, while Griffin chipped in six points and a team-high five rebounds to lead Elms' starters.

Three WPI starters reached double figure point totals led by Coppola who was a sizzling 12 of 13 from the field en route to 28 points. He was also 4 of 4 from three-point range, while Shannon and David Brown (Lowell, Mass.) scored 12 and 10 points respectively.

Matt Carr (Somersworth, N.H.) secured a team-high eight rebounds and scored nine points, while Sam Longwell (Acton, Mass.), Galloway and Ryan Kolb (Southington, Conn.) all contributed seven points off the bench in the winning effort.

Elms returns to non-conference action on Friday, Dec. 2 when it squares off against Westfield State University in the annual Pioneer Valley Classic at 7:30 p.m. Pioneer Valley Classic action will continue on Saturday, Dec. 3 when the Blazers take on host Springfield College at 5:00 p.m.