NCAA Tournament First Round | Swarthmore Regional
Men's Basketball vs. Ithaca
Friday, March 6 | 5 p.m.
Tarble Pavilion | Swarthmore, Pa.

WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson is headed to the Swarthmore (Pa.) Regional for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament beginning on Friday.
• The Beavers face Ithaca in one first round contest, while No. 1 Swarthmore (26-1) will take on Brookyln (13-15) in the other matchup.
• The winners will meet in Saturday's second round at 7:30 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson and Ithaca will play for the first time on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

BABSON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Beavers are making their fifth national tournament appearance since 2014 and first since claiming the program's first Division III national title by defeating Augustana (Ill.), 79-78, in 2017.
• Overall, Babson is making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance, all of which have come since 1992.
• In addition to cutting down the nets in 2017, the Beavers advanced to their first Division III Final Four in 2015 and reached the Sweet 16 in both 2002 and 2016.

ITHACA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Bombers are making their 13th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2013 when they advanced to the Sweet 16
• In addition to the one sectional semifinal appearance, Ithaca has advanced to the second round of the Division III championship on six occasions, most recently in 2009.

SCOUTING THE BOMBERS
• Ithaca (23-5) captured its first conference title since 2013 by defeating then-24th-ranked Rensselaer in OT, 80-69, for its 11th straight win last Sunday.
• Senior Sebastian Alderete led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while classmate Riley Thompson added 19 points and four assists for the Bombers, who went 8-of-10 at the free throw line in the extra session.
• Thompson (18.4, 3.5 reb) has made at least one three-pointer in 23 of 24 games this winter, Alderete (17.0 pts, 6.6 reb, 2.6 ast) is shooting 54.3 percent over the last six contests, and sophomore Skylar Sinon (15.7 pts, 5.3 reb, 4.1 ast) is averaging 18.4 points over his last nine outings.
• Ithaca ranks fourth in three-point field goal defense holding teams to 28.1 percent shooting, and commits just 10.2 turnovers, which is the sixth fewest among NCAA Tournament teams.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (20-6) received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament following a 73-58 loss to WPI in the NEWMAC Tournament semifinals last Friday.
• Junior Andrew Jaworski finished with 16 points and senior Jack Coolahan scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half for the Beavers, who were held under 60 points for just the second time this season.
• Coolahan (18.8 pts, 4.5 reb) is averaging 23.0 points over the last seven games, Jaworski (17.3 pts, 6.2 reb, 2.6 ast) is shooting 47.4 percent from the floor, and junior Crew Ainge (11.3 pts, 4.6 ast, 1.8 stl) leads the team in assists and steals.
• The Green and White ranks seventh among NCAA Tournament participants in turnovers per game (10.2) and is 31st in the country in field goal percentage (48.1).

WELCOME TO THE CLUB
• With two free throws at the 3:09 mark of the first half of last Friday's loss at WPI, Jaworski became the 28th player in Babson history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
• Jaworski, who has raised his average from 9.6 points as a rookie to 14.4 as a sophomore and 17.3 this season, needed just 73 games to reach the mark.

WING DUO EARNS ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
• Coolahan and Jaworski were both named to the NEWMAC All-Conference first team on Wednesday giving the Beaver a pair of first-team all-league selections for the first time since 2017.
• Coolahan ranked first in the NEWMAC in free throw percentage (97.4), second in points (21.9), three-pointers (49) and steals (1.9), and seventh in both field goal percentage (54.8) and three-point field goal percentage (44.5).
• Jaworski, who earned his second consecutive all-league honor, ranked third in the NEWMAC in scoring (19.7 points), fourth in three-pointers (34), 10th in rebounding (6.6) and 13th in assists.

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
• Coolahan's 85 three-pointers are the third most in Babson single-season history behind Mark Giovino '98, who made 88 during the 1996-97 campaign and Nick Comenale '18, who hit a school-record 110 triples during the Beavers run to the championship in 2017.
• He is just 10 points shy of becoming the 13th player in program history to reach 500 points in a season, and is currently third on the single-season list shooting 90.4 percent (47-of-52) at the free throw line.
• On Babson's all-time charts, Coolahan ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (43.1), is tied for eighth in three-pointers (132), and ranks 19th in overall field goal percentage (50.9).

LIVIN' AT-LARGE
• Babson has been an at-large selection in six of its 10 trips the NCAA Tournament, which includes three of its last five appearances.
• The Beavers won the national championship as an at-large pick in 2017, but dropped its first game of the championship in 1992 (second round), 1995, 1996 and 2014.

PHILLY-AREA DUO RETURNS HOME
• Friday's game in Swarthmore, Pa., will serve as a homecoming for both Newtown, Pa., native Coolahan and junior Matt Pattyson from Doylestown, Pa.
• Both players grew up less than an hour from the Swarthmore campus and will play in their home state for the first time in their respective careers. Additionally, Coolahan grew up playing with Riley Thompson of Ithaca.

FILLING IN FOR FRANK
• In 11 starts since senior Frank Oftring suffered a season-ending knee injury, sophomore Colin Bradanese is averaging 10.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots.
• Over his final four outings entering the NCAA Tournament he is putting up 12.5 points on 63.9 percent shooting.

DON'T I KNOW YOU?
• Ithaca Hall of Famer and assistant coach Sean Burton returned to his alma mater following a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Babson from 2013-15.
• He helped the Beavers reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade in 2014, which was followed by a run to the national semifinals a year later.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 11-4 away from home this season, which includes a 2-1 mark in neutral-court games.
• Babson is 11-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
• The Green and White is 14-1 when outrebounding its opponents.
• The Beavers are 13-1 when outscoring their opponents at the free throw line.
• Babson is 4-3 in games decided by five points or less.