BOSTON—Graduate student Nate Martin (Washington, D.C.) led four players in double figures with 20 points and Emerson College closed the game with a 17-8 run to defeat visiting Babson College, 79-70, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Wednesday night inside Brown-Plofker Gymnasium.

Babson, which has dropped two straight games, slips to 7-5 overall and beings league play 0-1, while Emerson improves to 6-6 and is 1-0 in the NEWMAC.

Graduate student Ryan Cibull (Alameda, Calif.) matched his season high with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, senior Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) scored 16 points and classmate Aaron Gao (Bridgewater, N.J.) chipped in with 11 points to pace the Beavers. First-year Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) led all players with 11 rebounds and classmate Tyler Lauder (Malvern, Pa.) grabbed seven boards and dished out a team-high three assists.

Graduate student Jarred Houston (Norwood, Mass.) finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks for the Lions. Senior James Beckwith (Palo Alto, Calif.), who led all players with four assists, and first-year Brendan McNamara (Abington, Mass.) both added 10 points in the victory.

Emerson used a 10-0 run that included six points from senior Max Davis (Oakland, Calif.) to take its biggest lead of the evening at 19-7 just over seven minutes into the contest. The Green and White was down 25-19 at the 7:23 mark before Cibull and junior John Gorgol (Scottsdale, Ariz.) provided all the scoring during a 12-2 spurt to go in front 31-27 with 4:42 to go before halftime.

The Beavers took a 40-38 advantage into the locker room thanks to a late pull-up jumper by Kirkpatrick and grabbed their biggest lead of the game at 48-43 on a hoop by Cibull with 16:21 to go. The next eight minutes featured five ties and three lead changes before the Lions went in front for good on a free throw by junior Trevor Arico (Ann Arbor, Mich.) with 8:01 remaining.

Houston and Beckwith scored on consecutive trips to extend the margin to five and Martin canned a jumper to push the hosts' advantage to 69-62 with 6:01 left. Babson scored on back-to-back possessions to get within three and trailed 71-68 after Kirkpatrick went 2-of-2 at the free throw line with 2:12 to play, but Beckwith scored after grabbing an offensive rebound on the ensuing trip and then hit a pair of free throws to stretch the margin back to 75-68 with 1:28 left.

The Beavers, who shot just 39.7 percent from the floor, finished with a 33-30 edge on the glass. The Lions shot 47.6 percent on the night and outscored the Green and White 42-16 in the paint.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. as Babson travels to Springfield while Emerson visits Coast Guard.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 29-5 all-time against Emerson although they have now dropped two straight games in the series going back to last February.
• The winning team has scored at least 78 points in 14 of the last 15 meetings between Babson and Emerson dating back to 2016.
• Wednesday's loss marks just the third time in 41 games since 2019-20 that the Beavers have lost when outrebounding their foes.
• Babson is 3-5 on the road this season.