Beavers Hold Engineers Scoreless Over Final 3:37, End Game with 8-0 Run

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Graduate student Mitchell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) matched his season high with 20 points and Babson ended the game on an 8-0 run to defeat visiting MIT, 69-62, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Wednesday night inside Staake Gymnasium.

Babson, which has won six of its last seven games, improves to 11-5 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while MIT dips to 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the NEWMAC.

Kirsch went 6-of-8 from the floor and added five rebounds and four assists for the Beavers. Sophomore Kieran Dorney (Garden City, N.Y.) scored 17 points and first-year Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) added 10 points, nine boards, two steals and two blocked shots in the win.

Senior Ian Hinkley (Raleigh, N.C.) posted a double-double with 19 points and a game-high16 rebounds, while classmate Giannis Chatziveroglou (Athens, Greece) chipped in with 11 points and six boards to lead the Engineers.

The opening stanza featured seven ties and nine lead changes before MIT used a 19-4 run that included hoops from six different players and back-to-back three-pointers by Hinkley and senior Julian Manyika (San Francisco, Calif.) to take its biggest lead of the game at 41-30 a minute before halftime. Dorney cut the Babson deficit to six at the break and then knocked down a three-pointer and followed up a hoop by Kirsch with another bucket to pull the hosts within 44-42 less than two minutes into the second half.

The Green and White took a 51-50 lead on a layup by first-year Rob Crouch (Jacksonville, Fla.) and extended the margin to 57-52 thanks to a three-point play by Kirsch and a bucket in the paint by Dorney with 9:55 to go in the game. The Engineers got back within three on a hoop by Chatziveroglou with 5:26 left, and used consecutive triples by Hinkley to take a 62-61 advantage at the 3:38 mark.

Crouch put the Beavers in front for good with a layup on the ensuing possession and Amado scored after grabbing an offensive rebound on the next trip to make it 65-62 with 2:48 remaining. Babson, which forced four turnovers and held MIT scoreless over its final seven possessions, used a fade-away jumper by graduate student Spencer Cline (Mason, Ohio) to stretch the lead to five with 57 seconds to go. Dorney then canned a pair of free throws with 27 ticks left for the final margin.

The Beavers, who committed a season-low five turnovers, shot 41.5 percent from the floor and outscored the visitors 34-20 in the paint. The Engineers shot just 36.7 percent and finished with a 47-36 edge on the glass.

Both teams return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. as Babson hosts Coast Guard while MIT takes on Emerson.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 58-25 all-time against MIT and have won three straight games in the series.
• Seven of the last 11 games between Babson and the Engineers have been decided by seven points or less.
• The Beavers are now 9-1 at home this season.
• Babson has won 20 consecutive games going back to the start of the 2019-20 campaign when holding its opponents below 70 points.