ASHLAND, Va.—Junior Josh Talbert (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored a game-high 25 points and No. 1 Randolph-Macon College outscored visiting Babson College 31-19 in the second half to pull away for a 67-51 victory in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night inside Crenshaw Gym.

With the loss, Babson sees its season come to an end at 19-8. Randolph-Macon improves to 29-1 with its 23rd straight victory and returns to the sectional semifinals for the third year in a row.

Graduate student Mitchell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) scored points on 4-of-8 shooting and first-year Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) added 12 points, 13 rebounds and four steals to lead the Beavers. Sophomore Kieran Dorney (Garden City, N.Y.) chipped in with 11 points in the loss.

Talbert went 10-of-12 from the floor and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Yellow Jackets. Junior Miles Mallory (Beltsville, Md.) finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots, while senior Buzz Anthony (Arnold, Md.) scored nine of his 11 points in the second half and led all players with eight assists in the win.

The Green and White trailed by as many as four early but pulled even at 12-12 on a jumper by Amado and then took its first lead of the game at 19-18 thanks to a triple by Amado with 7:03 to go in the first half. Amado scored off his own offensive rebound to extend the margin to three and then drilled another three-pointer to make it 24-21 at the 5:28 mark.

The Beavers' final lead of the night came on a hoop by junior Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) at 29-27 with 2:57 to go in the opening half. Talbert responded with seven consecutive points and Mallory converted inside to cap a 9-0 run that put the Yellow Jackets in front 36-29. Dorney beat the first-half buzzer with a three-pointer to trim the Babson deficit to four, but Randolph-Macon opened the second half with an extended 15-4 run to extend its advantage to 51-36 after a bucket by senior David Funderburg (Greensboro, N.C.) with 13:08 to play.

Senior James Welch (Needham, Mass.) got Babson back within 53-44 with a jumper at the 10:06 mark, but Talbert and Mallory combined for the next seven points to push the margin back to 16. Senior Colin Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) ended a Beavers' scoring drought of over four minutes to make it 60-46 with 5:26 remaining and Kirkpatrick followed with a transition hoop to get as close as 12, but Anthony canned a three-pointer out of the final media timeout extending the Yellow Jackets' lead back to 63-48.

The Green and White shot just 34.4 percent from the floor and attempted a season-low five free throws in the loss. Randolph-Macon shot 43.5 percent and finished with a 43-35 edge on the glass.

GAME NOTES
• Saturday's matchup was the first all-time between Babson and Randolph-Macon.
• Bradanese, who blocked three shots in Friday's first round win over DeSales, leaves Babson ranked second on the program's all-time list with 80 career blocks.
• Saturday's loss was the first this season for the Beavers when holding an opponent below 70 points.