Feb. 17, 2007

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Senior Damian Farley (Natick, Mass.) scored a career-high 27 points and added a game-high nine rebounds to lead the Springfield College men's basketball team to a hard-fought 70-67 victory over Babson College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference game this afternoon at SC's Blake Arena.

With the win, Springfield climbs to 12-13 overall, and finishes 7-5 in NEWMAC regular-season play. Babson, meanwhile, falls to 16-9 overall, and finishes 9-3 in NEWMAC regular-season play. Babson will be seeded second and Springfield third as both teams will host a NEWMAC Tournament Quarterfinal game this Wednesday evening. Babson will host seventh-seeded Coast Guard, while Springfield will host sixth-seeded Wheaton.

In the best game of his career, Farley scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half, when SC built a 38-33 edge. The 21 points at halftime tied his career-high to that point (at Curry in 2005-06). Farley finished 13-of-16 from the field (.813) in his 34 minutes of action. He was 10-of-13 in the first half, 3-of-3 in the second.

Fellow senior Anthony Pizzo (Clifton Park, N.Y.) also had quite a first half with eight assists and two steals. He finished with five points (all from the free throw line in the latter stages of the game), nine assists, and two steals.

Besides Farley, Springfield had two others score in double figures. They were freshman forward Pat Crean (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) with 13 points (including 9-of-10 from the free throw line) and junior guard Jamaal Gibbs (Norwalk, Conn.) with 10 points. Gibbs also had four assists.

Babson was led by sophomore guard Zach Etten (Hollis, N.H.) with 19 points and a team-high six rebounds. Junior guard/forward Kyle McDonald (Wethersfield, Conn.) scored 14 points, and junior forward Chris Bradley (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) tallied 10 to go along with five rebounds.

Babson's biggest lead came early on, as McDonald hit a jumper to make it 14-8 at the 13:21 mark of the first half. When SC's Gibbs made a four-point play with 4:42 left, SC took a 27-25 lead, and the Pride rode Farley's outstanding work right through halftime.

SC's high-water mark came with 11:16 left in the second half when freshman Ryan Blackmon (Stamford, Conn.) made a lay-up, giving the Pride a 52-42 lead. But over the next 6:20, Babson outscored Springfield, 13-2, to take a one-point lead on a jumper by McDonald with 4:56 to go.

Babson led by three, 59-56, with 3:40 left on two free throws by McDonald. However, four straight points by Crean gave the Pride a 60-59 lead with 2:49 to play. Leading 62-61, SC then received a huge lift from junior forward Gregg Daly (Farmington, Conn.), who made a three-pointer with 1:38 left. Two more free throws by Pizzo gave SC a 67-61 advantage with 40 seconds remaining.

Just two days after erasing an eight-point deficit in the final 64 seconds of a 62-61 win over Coast Guard, Babson refused to go quietly in this one. Two free throws, a steal and lay-up by McDonald brought the Beavers back to 67-65 with 27 seconds left. Crean then hit two free throws to give SC a 69-65 edge with 24 seconds to go, but a length of the floor lay-up by Etten with 17 seconds left gave Babson another chance. A trapping defense cornered Gibbs who stepped out of bounds with 12 seconds left, giving the Beavers one last opportunity, but an Etten jumper hit the back of the rim with four ticks left and SC's Pizzo coralled the rebound. Pizzo then hit one free throw with 1.4 seconds left to provide the final margin, 70-67.

NOTE: Taken from a Springfield College press release.