MEDFORD, Mass.—Sophomore Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) poured in a career-high 31 points but visiting Babson College was unable to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit and suffered an 82-73 loss at Tufts University on the opening day of the New England Big 4 Challenge inside Cousens Gymnasium.

Babson, which has dropped two straight games, is now 2-2 on the year while Tufts improves to 2-0 and will play in its third straight Big 4 Challenge title game on Sunday.

Amado went 12-of-19 from the floor and grabbed five rebounds, while first-year Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) finished with a season-high 11 points and four boards to lead the Beavers. Sophomore Parker Mason (Portsmouth, R.I.) added seven points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead all players in the loss.

Sophomore Khai Champion (Philadelphia, Pa.) led four players in double figures with 17 points and senior Tyler Aronson (Holliston, Mass.) contributed 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds to pace the Jumbos. Fellow senior Dylan Thoerner (Irvine, Calif.) and junior Casey McLaren (Newburyport, Mass.) each added 10 points in the victory.

Tufts, which shot 67.9 percent in the opening half, scored on eight of its first nine possessions and got seven points from Aronson and six from sophomore Bobby Stewart (Boca Raton, Fla.) to build a 17-5 lead just over five minutes into the contest. Five straight points from Champion extended the lead to 14 and sophomore Truman Gettings (Studio City, Calif.) followed up a three-pointer by McLaren gave the hosts their largest lead of the game at 35-17 with 7:55 to go before halftime.

Amado scored 10 consecutive points for Babson to pull within 37-27 and senior Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) beat the first-half buzzer with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 46-32 at the break.

The Jumbos matched their biggest lead at 61-43 with 12:56 to go before the Beavers responded with a 17-4 run over the next four-plus minutes. Mason and sophomore David Cross (Cinnaminson, N.J.) knocked down back-to-back triples, Amado scored nine consecutive points and O'Toole converted a layup to trim the margin to just 65-60 at the 8:32 mark.

Junior John Gorgol (Scottsdale, Ariz.) made 1-of-2 free throws after three straight empty possessions by both squads to pull the Green and White within 68-63 but Tufts scored on three of its next four trips to stretch the margin back to 74-65 on a layup by senior Theo Henry (Ardmore, Pa.) with 2:26 left.

Back-to-back hoops by Amado got Babson within 74-69 with 1:24 to go but Thoerner made four late free throws and got a run-out dunk to finish things off.

The Beavers shot 39.7 percent from the floor and went 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) at the free throw line. The Jumbos shot 54.5 percent and outscored the Green and White 38-28 in the paint in addition to finishing with a 38-34 edge on the glass.

Babson will take on Salem State in Sunday's 12 p.m. consolation game, while Tufts meets Endicott in the championship game at 2 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 16-28 all-time against Tufts but suffered their first loss in the series since 2015 on Saturday.
• Babson is 12-13 all-time in the Big 4 Challenge and Saturday's loss was just its second in the opening round over the last nine seasons.
• Amado has scored at least 20 points in each of Babson's first four games.
• Tufts is just the fifth team to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor in Babson's last 41 games.