BABSON PARK, Mass. – Five different players hit double-figures for the Babson College men's basketball team on Wednesday night, as the Beavers turned in their best offensive showing of the season in a 96-81 victory over the visiting United States Coast Guard Academy in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest at Staake Gymnasium.

With the win, Babson improved to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in the conference, while the loss dropped the Bears' record to 6-9 overall and 0-5 in NEWMAC play.

Junior Marcus McDermott (Milton, Mass.) led the explosive offensive attack for the Beavers, scoring 21 points while adding four rebounds and four assists. Juniors Alex Rudolph (Bal Harbour, Fla.) and Russell Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each added 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field, while senior captain Matt Florio (Skillman, N.J.) and sophomore reserve Matt Palazini (Franklin, Mass.) tossed in 14 apiece. Florio also pulled down five boards and dished out a game-high five assists for Babson, which shot a season-high 58.3 percent (35-60) from the floor, including a 44.4 percent clip (8-18) from three-point range.

Coast Guard received a standout performance from sophomore guard Kevin Sowers (Monrovia, Md.), who shot 6-for-7 from the field and 8-for-9 from the line for a team-high 20 points. Junior Greg Marshall (Gaithersburg, Md.) chipped in with 18 points, sophomore John Benedict (Cumming, Ga.) contributed 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and first-year David Anderson (Goose Creek, S.C.) tacked on 19 points to go with six caroms. The Bears also shot well in the contest, hitting 54.9 percent (28-51) of their attempts from the floor and 83.3 percent (20-24) from the free throw line.

Babson took control of the game early on, scoring the first nine points of the contest en route way to an eventual 22-8 lead with 14:32 left in the opening half. Rudolph and Braithwaite combined for nine of the team's first 13 points in the game, while Palazini single-handedly capped the run with three consecutive three-pointers. The Beavers would increase the margin to 18 on two occasions before heading into the locker room with a 50-33 advantage.

The hosts still held a comfortable 17-point lead after a lay-up by first-year David Mack (Holden, Mass.) made it 62-45 with just under 15 minutes left to go in the second half, but Coast Guard made things interesting with a 13-2 run over the next four and a half minutes. Five different Bears scored during that span, including a three-pointer by freshman Ricky Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela) with 12 minutes to go and a lay-up by Anderson that made it 64-58 with 11:16 on the clock.

It was still a six-point contest at 66-60 with 10:24 remaining, but Braithwaite erupted for seven straight points to spark an 10-2 burst that essentially put the game out of reach. He opened the run by converting a conventional three-point play, followed that up with a dunk off a nice transition feed from McDermott, and then added another breakaway lay-up to make it 73-60 with a little over nine minutes left to play. After a Sowers bucket, a technical foul on Coast Guard enabled Florio to tack on two more free throws and McDermott sank another as the Beavers increased their advantage to 14 at 76-62 with 8:08 to go.

Coast Guard never got closer than 11 the rest of the way, as McDermott added eight points down the stretch and Florio chipped in six more to power Babson to the 15-point victory.