BOX
SCORE
WORCESTER, Mass. -- With the score knotted at 39 apiece, MIT
scored the final 11 points of the game to advance to the NEWMAC
Tournament Championship game with a hard-earned 50-39 win over
sixth-seeded Babson at WPI's Harrington Auditorium Saturday
Evening. Jimmy Bartolotta (Littleton, CO) scored six of his
team-high 13 points in the final 3:22 to key the win for the
Engineers.
MIT (19-8) will now face fourth-seeded Springfield (15-12) in the
tournament final Sunday at 2:30pm. Babson's season ends with a
record of 13-14.
Bartolotta scored on three straight layups to give the Engineers a
45-39 edge with 1:11 remaining in the game. A Bradley Gampel
(Miami, FL) steal on the next Babson possession and free throw
allowed MIT to push its lead to seven with 1:06 to go.
Bartolotta then fed Billy Johnson (Everett, WA) with a
behind-the-back pass for a layup and Gampel canned two more free
throws to wrap up the 11-0 run and clinch the victory for the
Engineers.
The teams played a low-scoring first half, combining for only 37
points. With the score locked up at six apiece, MIT rattled
off six straight points on two baskets from Bartolotta and one from
Johnson to take a 12-6 edge at the 8:21 mark. After the Beavers got
back to within two with 2:05 to go, Johnson hit a 3-pointer to push
the MIT lead back up to five at 20-15 with a 1:02 to play. Babson's
Zach Etten (Hollis, NH) then hit a jumper just
inside the arc at the buzzer to pull the Beavers back to within
three points at 20-17 heading into intermission.
Jamie Karraker (Morgantown, WV) added 12 points for MIT. Gampel
netted nine points, including five from the line. His eight
steals set a new single-game Institute record. Johnson
dropped in eight points and pulled down six rebounds, while
Bartolotta and Gampel each had a team-best four assists.
Etten paced the Beavers with 13 points in the final game of his
magnificent career, as he finishes 11th on the program's all-time
scoring list with 1,265 points. Rookie Kris Noonan
(Boothbay Harbor, ME) notched a double-double with 10 points and 11
rebounds for Babson, while Sheldon Ladson (New
York, NY) contributed eight points in defeat.
NOTE: Taken from a WPI press release.
