Jan. 30, 2007

Box Score

BABSON PARK, Mass. - The Babson College men's basketball team built a commanding 21-point lead in the first half and then withstood a furious comeback attempt by visiting Tufts University as the Beavers claimed an 84-76 non-conference win on Tuesday night. The victory was the sixth in the last eight games for Babson (12-7), while the Jumbos (12-7) saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt.

Junior Greg Bush (East Islip, N.Y.) led all players with 21 points for Babson, while sophomore Zach Etten (Hollis, N.H.) added 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Senior co-captains Brandon Eigenberg (Milford, Conn.) and Brian Parsons (Queensbury, N.Y.) also hit double figures with 12 points apiece, and sophomore Norm de Silva (Dartmouth, Mass.) dished out eight assists.

Sophomore Jon Pierce (Belmont, Mass.) paced Tufts with 19 points, including 13 in the second half, while juniors Ryan O'Keefe (Everett, Mass.) and Jake Weitzen (New York, N.Y.) netted 15 points apiece. Senior co-captain Brian Kumf (Milford, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points and six boards for the visitors, and fellow senior co-captain David Shepherd (Grantham, N.H.) recorded five rebounds and six assists.

Tufts trailed by just one, 12-11, after a three-pointer by Weitzen with 15:20 left in the first half, but Babson exploded for a 20-0 run to build a 32-11 lead. Six different Beavers scored during the barrage, which was keyed by eight points from Bush. At the other end, the suffocating Babson defense forced six turnovers while holding the Jumbos scoreless for more than seven minutes.

After taking an eventual 49-31 lead into the locker room, Babson pushed its lead back to 20 twice in the opening minutes of the second half. However, the Jumbos fought back with a 13-2 run that was sparked by a conventional three-point play by senior Brian Fitzgerald (Bedford, N.H.), whittling the Babson lead down to single digits at 57-48 with 12:45 remaining.

Babson kept the Jumbos at bay for the next five minutes before O'Keefe and Pierce combined to score eight straight points to pull Tufts to within three, 70-67, with 3:32 on the clock. After Bush and Kumf traded baskets, Parsons drew a foul and sank one of two to make it a two-possession game, 73-69. The Beavers then got the ball back by forcing a turnover, and Eigenberg followed with what may have been the biggest bucket of the game when he drove the lane and hit a lay-up in traffic, pushing Babson's lead to 75-69 with 1:07 left. Tufts managed two free throws and one three-pointer in the final 35 ticks, but the Beavers hit nine of their last 10 from the stripe to seal the 84-76 victory.

GAME NOTES: Babson hit 11 of its first 13 field goals in the contest. The Beavers shot 61.8 percent (21-for-34) in the first half and 53.6 percent (30-for-56) for the game... Over the last five games, Etten and Bush have combined for 163 of Babson's 362 points. Etten has averaged 16.6 points per game during that stretch, while Bush has averaged 16.0 per contest.