BABSON PARK, Mass. – Second-ranked Amherst College shot 55.0 percent from the field in the second half to pull away from host Babson College en route to a 61-50 victory in a non-conference men's basketball contest at Staake Gymnasium on Thursday night. The Lord Jeffs, who trail only conference foe Middlebury College in the most recent D3hoops.com national poll, improved to 8-0 on the year, while the Beavers suffered their third straight defeat to fall to 7-3.

Senior David Waller (Tampa, Fla.) led Amherst with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor and a 3-of-4 clip from the free throw line. Junior Willy Workman (Northampton, Mass.) added 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots, and senior Jeff Holmes (Sauderstown, R.I.) tossed in nine points to go with a game-high nine boards – seven of which came at the offensive end. Sophomore David Kalema (Burke, Va.) also finished with nine points for the Lord Jeffs, while sophomore Aaron Toomey (Greensboro, N.C.) dished out a game-high five assists. The visitors bounced back from a poor shooting first half to hit 11 of20 field attempts in the second stanza, finishing the contest with a 39.2 percent showing from the field.

Babson was led by a standout performance by senior captain Matt Florio (Skillman, N.J.), who scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting while also pulling down four rebounds. Junior Russell Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added eight points and six caroms in defeat for the hosts, and sophomore Connor Boyen (Woodbury, Conn.) chipped in with seven points off the bench. The Beavers shot just 31.1 percent from the floor in the contest, including a 25.8 percent clip in the first 20 minutes.

Both teams struggled mightily on offense in the first half, combing for just eight points in the first nine minutes of action. Amherst then netted four straight in a 25-second span to take an 8-4 lead with 10:40 remaining, but Babson pulled even with four unanswered points in the next minute – the first of five ties in the period. The Beavers later grabbed their largest lead of the game when Boyen drained a three-pointer to make it 18-15 at the five-minute mark, but the Lord Jeffs surged back in front with a 7-0 burst that was punctuated by a one-handed dunk by junior Allen Williamson (Saugus, Mass.) that made it 22-18 with 1:31 to go. Amherst eventually went into the break leading by the same margin, 24-20.

The Lord Jeffs began pulling away early in the second half, scoring the first four points and nine of the first 11 to go up 33-22 with four minutes gone by. The Beavers made one final push over the next two minutes, going on a 10-2 run that was highlighted by three-pointers from Florio and sophomore Matt Palazini (Franklin, Mass.) to cut the deficit to just three at 35-32. However, Workman scored five straight points to ignite a 24-4 outburst that ballooned Amherst's advantage to 56-39 with 4:12 to go, and from there the visitors coasted to the eventual 61-50 win. Kalema scored seven of his nine points during the decisive run, while Workman had five and junior Peter Kaasila (Plaistow, N.H.) tossed in four.

This was the final game of the semester for Babson, which returns to action with games at Claremont-Mudd Scripps and Caltech in California on December 30 and 31. Meanwhile, Amherst closes out its pre-holiday slate with a pair of contests, beginning with a 7 p.m. tilt at Brandeis this Saturday.