Men's Basketball at No. 20 Amherst
Friday, December 31 | 1:00 p.m.
Lefrak Gymnasium | Amherst, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 16-24 all-time against Amherst in a series that dates back to 1977-78.
• The Beavers have won the last three meetings over the Mammoths after dropping the previous two in double overtime.
• The Green and White has won three of the last four at Amherst but is 8-11 overall on the Western Massachusetts campus.
LAST MEETING
• Frank Oftring '20 finished with a career-high 30 points and Andrew Jaworski '21 scored four points over the final 30 seconds to help Babson secure an 87-82 win over 14th-ranked Amherst inside Staake Gymnasium on December 4, 2019.
• Oftring went 12-of-17 from the floor and added 10 rebounds while Jaworski scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Junior Crew Ainge '21 contributed 15 points and six assists, and Jack Coolahan '20 knocked down four three-pointers and finished with 12 points.
• Garrett Day '22 scored 17 points and Eric Sellew '20 added 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mammoths. Fru Che '21 finished with 14 points, Josh Chery '20 added 11 points and eight boards, and Will Phelan '23 chipped in with 10 points off the bench in the loss.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (6-4) pulled out an 82-80 victory over Salem State in its last official outing on December 4 in the consolation game of the New England Big 4 Challenge inside Brandeis' Red Auerbach Arena.
• Senior Colin Bradanese forced overtime with a late three-pointer and sophomore Kieran Dorney finished with 21 points and a career-high 21 rebounds in the victory.
• The Beavers also took on Harvard in an exhibition game on December 4 in Cambridge, and led the Crimson by nine points in the second half before succumbing to the Crimson, 74-64.
• Bradanese leads the Beavers with 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per outing, shooting 52.5 percent from the field. First-year Nate Amado is enjoying a solid rookie campaign, averaging 11.7 points and 7.4 boards a game, and graduate student Mitchell Kirsch chips in with 9.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and team-highs of 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals per contest.
SCOUTING THE MAMMOTHS
• No. 20 Amherst (8-0), which did not play any games in 2020-21, will be playing its first game since a 75-61 victory at Springfield on December 7.
• Senior Grant Robinson scored 17 points to help Amherst remain unbeaten in the win over the Pride.
• The Mammoths have three seniors averaging in double figures in scoring –Garrett Day (16.1), Tim McCarthy (15.0) and Robinson (14.0). Michael Schretter chips in with 9.4 points and a team-high 7.9 boards, and Robinson leads the way with 3.5 assists per game.
• Amherst is ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division III in scoring defense (51.5), scoring margin (33.0), rebound margin (17.2), and field goal percentage defense (32.7).
NOTHING BUT NESCAC
• Friday's contest against Amherst is the fourth game this season against a team from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with Babson going 2-1 in the first three.
• The Beavers posted victories over Bates and Bowdoin sandwiched around an overtime loss to Colby, all consecutively in a nine-day span in late November.
• The Green and White is 10-1 against the NESCAC since the start of the 2018-19 season and had won nine in a row until the loss at Colby on November 23.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Babson has won 10 of its last 11 since the start of the 2020-21 season when winning the rebounding battle, and is 24-2 with the advantage on the glass since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
• The Beavers have shot at least 41 percent from the field in seven of their 10 games this season.
• Bradenese has scored in double figures in eight out of 10 games this season after matching those numbers in eight out of 10 contests last season. He had reached double digits in 34 of his 68 career outings.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Babson opens up New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action next Wednesday, January 5, hosting Emerson at 7 p.m. at Staake Gymnasium.
• The Beavers play five of their first six conference games on home court, but will end up on the road for six of their final eight.
