WORCESTER, Mass.—Junior Garrett Stephenson (Townsend, Mass.) led five players in double figures with 16 points as second-seeded WPI defeated third-seeded and 25th-ranked Babson College, 73-58, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal on Friday night inside Harrington Auditorium.

With the loss, Babson drops to 20-6 on the year and now must wait until Monday to find out if it earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. WPI (20-6) snapped a two-game skid and will play in the NEWMAC Tournament final for the third year in a row.

Junior Andrew Jaworski (Tolland, Conn.) scored a team-high 16 points and became the 28th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for the Beavers. Senior Jack Coolahan (Newtown, Pa.) contributed 15 points and seven rebounds, while first-year Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) added 11 points and three assists in the loss.

First-year John Lowther (Hingham, Mass.) scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, junior Colin McNamara (Arlington, Mass.) finished with 13 points and four steals, and senior Lou Doherty (Arlington, Mass.) came off the bench to finish with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting for the Engineers. Junior Kahleb Downing (Middletown, Conn.) also chipped in with 10 points.

Coolahan put the Green and White in front 9-6 just under seven minutes into the contest before WPI countered with a 16-0 run that included 13 points from Doherty and Lowther to seize control of the game. Coolahan ripped off eight straight points to pull the Beavers within 22-17, and Kirkpatrick drilled a three-pointer that cut the deficit to just two at the 5:20 mark of the stanza.

The Engineers got three-pointers from McNamara and Doherty to push their edge back to 38-32 at the break and used a three-point play by Stephenson and a pair of triples by junior Jake Needleman (Morganville, N.J.) to stretch the margin to 13 just over three minutes into the second half. After cutting its deficit to nine three times, Babson pulled within 54-47 a jumper by Jaworski with 10:18 to play, only to see Lowther answer with a three-point play on WPI's next trip.

Coolahan rebounded a miss by junior Crew Ainge (Wellesley, Mass.) and scored to get the Beavers within 61-54 at the 3:56 mark, but Lowther answered with an offensive rebound and hoop of his own on the ensuing possession, and Downing followed with a three-pointer to stretch the hosts advantage back to 66-54 with 2:48 remaining.

The Green and White, which finished with a 39-34 edge on the glass shot just 40 percent and committed 16 turnovers that led 18 points for WPI. The Engineers shot 48.2 percent and outscored the Beavers 32-18 in the paint.

WPI will host Coast Guard in the NEWMAC Tournament final on Sunday at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 50-34 all-time against WPI but has dropped the last four conference tournament matchups between the teams.
• Coolahan, who ranks third on the program's single-season list with 85 three-pointers, is now tied with Sam Bohmiller '17 for eighth place on Babson's career list with 132 triples.
• The Beavers have dropped their last four NEWMAC Tournament contests going back to 2017.
• Babson, which entered the night ranked 11th in Division III in adjusted offense, was held below 60 points for just the second time this season.