BOX
SCORE
BABSON PARK, Mass. - Babson College used a suffocating defensive
effort to force 22 turnovers en route to a 72-58 victory over
visiting WPI in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference
(NEWMAC) men's basketball contest at Staake Gymnasium on Wednesday
night. With the win, the Beavers improved to 9-9 overall and 2-4 in
the conference, while the Engineers dropped to 14-4 and 3-3 in the
NEWMAC.
First-year Russell Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
and junior co-captain Matt Zoia (Nashua, N.H.)
both had spectacular games for Babson. Braithwaite scored a
career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting while also pulling down
five rebounds, and Zoia drained 4-of-7 from three-point range on
his way to a 19-point night. First-year Alex Rudolph (Bal
Harbour, Fla.) contributed nine points and eight rebounds,
and sophomore Kris Noonan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine)
grabbed seven boards. Eight different Beavers recorded steals in
the win, as they forced 22 WPI turnovers that led to 21 Babson
points.
WPI was led by junior Jeffrey Robinson (Granby, Conn.), who
scored 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, and sophomore Fernando Perez
(Lowell, Mass.), who had a huge game in the paint with seven points
and a career-high 15 rebounds. Juniors Kyle Nadeau (Webster, Mass.)
and Ben Etten (Hollis, N.H.) each added five points and three
assists for the Engineers, who were held to just 6-of-10 shooting
from the free throw line compared to Babson's 17-of-29 clip at the
other end.
Babson never trailed in the contest, opening the game with an
8-0 run over the first three and a half minutes. The tenacious
Beaver defense would hold WPI to just seven points for the first 13
minutes of play, as the hosts built a 19-7 advantage with under
seven minutes remaining. Babson later led by as many as 13 with
four minutes left, but WPI closed the half with an 8-2 run to trail
by only seven (27-20) at the break.
After a Perez lay-up cut WPI's deficit to five in the opening
moments of the second half, Babson once again extended the lead to
12 with a 7-0 run that was sparked by a three-pointer from Zoia.
The Engineers would make several pushes over the next 10 minutes,
pulling to within four twice and then cutting it to just one after
a Robinson trifecta made it 47-46 with 9:35 remaining. However,
Babson answered with an 8-0 burst that was started by a huge
put-back by Rudolph on a missed free throw and later capped by a
thunderous breakaway jam by Braithwaite that gave the Beavers a
55-46 cushion with seven minutes left to play.
Robinson sank a pair of free throws to trim the margin back to
seven with 6:44 remaining, but Babson put the game out of reach
with an 11-0 run that was punctuated by six straight points from
Braithwaite as the Beavers ran away with the 72-58 victory.
