BOX SCORE

BABSON PARK, Mass. - The Babson College men's basketball team held visiting Curry College to just 34.4 percent shooting in the second half as the Beavers pulled away for a 76-58 victory over the Colonels in front of a packed house at Staake Gymnasium on Wednesday night. It was the first game of the season for Babson (1-0), while Curry fell to 0-2 with the loss.

Sophomore Marcus Edwards (East Hampton, N.Y.) scored 17 points to go with four steals in the win for the Beavers, while first-year Marcus McDermott (Milton, Mass.) tossed in 14 points in his collegiate debut, including 12 during an 18-2 second-half run that put the game away. Sophomore Kris Noonan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) netted 10 points while joining first-year Russ Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with a team-high nine rebounds, and junior Dana Mauro (Wethersfield, Conn.) turned in a tremendous effort off the bench, scoring 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 21 minutes of action.

Curry was led in defeat by senior Mark Mastrullo (Billerica, Mass.), who scored a game-high 20 points to go with three steals, and sophomore A.J. Stephens (Stamford, Conn.), who added 19 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Rodney Bennett (Mattapan, Mass.) contributed seven points and two blocked shots for the Colonels, and senior Philippe Jourdain (Cambridge, Mass.) added six points, eight boards, three assists, and four steals in a solid all-around effort.

Curry moved ahead, 6-5, on a lay-up by Mastrullo just under three minutes into the game, but that would prove to be the Colonels only lead of the contest. The visitors stayed within one possession for most of the next six minutes before Babson used a 13-4 burst to build a 26-14 cushion with 7:53 remaining in the half. The Beavers still led by as many as nine at 34-25 with 1:13 on the clock, but Mastrullo scored six of the period's final eight points, highlighted by a four-point play with 1:08 left, to close the Colonels' gap to 36-31 at the break.

A jumper by Bennett pulled Curry back to within three in the opening minute of the second half, but Braithwaite threw down a thunderous dunk in transition to spark a 7-0 Beavers run that made it a 43-33 contest. The Colonels chipped away and trailed by only six, 48-42, after a Stephens free throw with 11:35 remaining, but Babson held Curry to just two points over the next five minutes as the hosts exploded for an 18-2 run. McDermott fueled the spurt with 12 of his 14 points, highlighted by a conventional three-point play with 10:49 remaining and a long range trifecta that capped the run with 6:42 on the clock. That gave Babson a commanding 66-44 lead and Curry would get no closer than 14 the rest of the way as the Beavers claimed the 76-58 victory.