WATERVILLE, Maine—Graduate student Mitchell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) finished with season highs of 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as visiting Babson College suffered a 78-74 overtime loss at Colby College on Tuesday evening inside the Margaret M. Crook Center.

Babson slips to 4-3 on the year with the loss, while Colby is now 4-1 overall.

Senior Colin Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) scored 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, while graduate student Spencer Cline (Mason, Ohio) added 15 points for the Beavers. First-year David Cross (Cinnaminson, N.J.) scored 11 of his career-high 13 points in the first half.

Junior Noah Tyson (Castleton, Vt.) scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while senior Matt Hanna (Milford, Mass.) and first-year Jack Lawson (St. Louis, Mo.) finished with 20 points apiece for the Mules.

The game featured five ties and eight lead changes over the first 15 minutes before Cross scored six straight points during an 8-0 spurt that gave the Green and White a 39-32 advantage with 2:50 to go before halftime. Kirsch scored six of Babson's first eight points to extend the margin to 47-37 four minutes into the second half and Cross buried a jumper to give the visitors their largest lead of the contest at 53-40 with 11:30 remaining.

Despite being held scoreless for a stretch of nearly seven minutes, Bradanese scored twice in the span of three possessions to keep the Beavers in front 57-51 with 3:39 to go in regulation. Tyson tied the game at 59 with his fourth triple of the period with 1:08 left, and then answered a bucket by Kirsch with two free throws to pull Colby even again with 25 seconds to play. Babson got the final shot of regulation but Kirsch was unable to connect on a three-pointer from the left wing, sending the game to overtime.

Down one nearly two minutes into the extra session, Kirsch hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it 66-66 before Hanna put the Mules in front for good with three-pointers on consecutive possessions. Babson committed a turnover and missed a layup on its next two possessions before Hanna knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to extend the hosts' lead to 74-66 with 47 seconds to go.

The Beavers shot 44.9 percent from the floor and finished with a 40-35 edge on the glass. Colby shot 43.1 percent for the game and made nine of its 12 three-point field goals in the second half and overtime.

Babson returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Bowdoin at 1 p.m., while Colby hosts Southern Maine next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 10-17 all-time against Colby and Tuesday's matchup was just the second between the programs since 2008.
• Babson is now 23-2 since the start of the 2019-20 campaign when outrebounding its opponent.
• Tuesday's loss was just the second for the Beavers in 28 games when leading with five minutes to play in regulation going back to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
• Babson is 1-1 this season in games decided by five points or less.