BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Nate Amado (Whitman, Mass.) scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half to help Babson College defeat UMass Boston, 69-63, in the opening round of the 35th Babson Invitational Tournament on Saturday night inside Staake Gymnasium.

With the win, Babson opens the season at 1-0, while UMass Boston starts 0-1.

Senior Colin Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, while graduate student Mitchell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) and senior Beau Smith (Germantown, N.Y.,) added nine points apiece for the Beavers. Fellow senior James Welch (Needham, Mass.) chipped in with eight points and three assists in the win.

Senior Charles Mitchell (Boston, Mass.) led all scorers with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with a team-high nine boards for the Beacons. Junior Malik Lorquet (Sharon, Mass.) contributed 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks in the loss.

With the game deadlocked at 46-46, the Green and White used a key 13-6 spurt to take the lead for good. Kirsch started the run with a three-pointer, Amado followed up a jumper with buckets in the paint on consecutive possessions, and Kirsch buried another triple to give the hosts their biggest lead of the game at 59-52 with 7:15 remaining.

UMass Boston pulled within three twice over the final four minutes of the contest, only to see Welch answer for the Beavers both times. He knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 61-56 at the 3:54 mark and then canned a three-pointer off a Bradanese offensive rebound to push the Babson lead back to 64-58 with 1:15 to play.

Lorquet scored inside with 46 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but Amado sealed the win with a tip-in with 16 seconds to go to seal the victory.

The Green and White trailed 25-24 at the half after shooting just 31.3 percent over the opening 20 minutes. Babson led by as many as six in the early going but went nearly nine minutes without a field goal as the Beacons took their biggest lead of the game at 18-12 on a free throw by first-year Ike Eluwa (Princeton, N.J.).

Both teams return to action on Sunday as Babson hosts Suffolk at 4 p.m., while UMass Boston takes on Coast Guard at 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Saturday's contest was the first for Babson against UMass Boston since 1983.
• The Beavers have won their season opener in 13 of the last 14 seasons going back to 2008.
• Babson is 55-14 all-time in the Babson Invitational Tournament.
• The Beavers finished with a 45-39 edge on the glass and committed just eight turnovers in Saturday's victory.