Vikings Conquer Engineers, 89-82

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Salem State men's basketball looked to get back in the win column tonight as they traveled to Cambridge to take on Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After an evening of 17 lead changes and six ties, the Vikings snuck away with the impressive 89-82 victory over the Engineers, improving to 2-5 on the year.

Once again Salem saw multiple Vikings in double figures with Chris MacDonald (Wakefield, Mass.) and Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) leading the charge with 19 points each, with Castillo dishing out seven helpers. Additionally, Jarret and Connor Byrne (Melrose, Mass.) had 17 and 10 points, respectively, with Jarret pulling in 13 boards in the win.

For the Engineers, Rome Delgado- Gonzalez (Miami, Fla.) notched a double- double, exploding for 29 points and 16 rebounds. Teammate, Tim Minicozzi (Belmont, Mass.) recorded 17 points in tonight's loss.

Spearheaded by MacDonald and his opening seven points, the Vikings jumped out to a 9-5 advantage, before the Engineers would go on to score six unanswered points to take the 10-9 lead four minutes into the game. The next ten minutes of action went back and forth before the Vikings began to distance themselves with 3:30 left on the clock. With under a minute to play in the half, Castillo stole the ball from the Engineers and found Juvens Louis (Everett, Mass.) breaking ahead for the fastbreak layup to give their team an 11-point cushion and solidify the largest lead of the game for either squad thus far. The Engineers tried to bring the game back to single digits before the buzzer, but the Vikings defense halted them, sending the game into halftime with the Vikings ahead, 50-39.

Castillo opened the half by building on his team's lead after splitting a pair at the charity stripe and a layup put Salem up 13 points in the opening minutes. The Vikings would hold onto the double-digit cushion until just under 14 minutes to play in the half, when a perfect trip to the line and a layup for the Engineers would bring the tally to 60-53 and MIT  within seven points of the Vikings. From there, the Engineers used the free throw line to get back in the game going 4-6 before an easy bucket and three-pointer brought the game to 62 a piece with just over nine minutes to play.

The Vikings were able to give themselves some breathing room after a J. Bryne three-pointer and two perfect trips to the line gave them the 69-62 edge. Following the flow of the game, MIT found their way back within striking distance after going a perfect 4-4 from the line brought the game to 75-74 and the home team down only one basket. With exactly one minute on the game clock, Minicozzi nailed a three-pointer to bring the score to 85-82, but the Vikings were unnerved as they iced the game out from the charity stripe to take the 89-82 victory on the Engineers court.