SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—Junior John Gorgol (Scottsdale, Ariz.) hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 51 seconds to play and senior Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) went 6-of-6 at the free throw line down the stretch to help visiting Babson College defeat Springfield College, 59-55, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon inside Blake Arena.

With the win, Babson improves to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while Springfield dips to 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the NEWMAC.

Kirkpatrick led all players with 18 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while senior Aaron Gao (Bridgewater, N.J.) chipped in with 10 points, five boards and two steal to lead the Beavers.

Sophomore Curtis Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) had nine points and nine boards and senior Panayiotis Kapanides (Bedford, Mass.) finished with eight points and nine rebounds to pace the Pride.

The Green and White led 12-6 after a layup by first-year Mark Woolhouse (Lebanon, N.J.) a little over six minutes into the opening stanza and used a 10-3 spurt that included hoops from four different players to build its largest advantage of the afternoon at 22-12 on a jumper by Kirkpatrick at the 8:06 mark. The Beavers scored on three of their final four possessions of the half to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room and answered a basket by Panayiotis with a quick 7-2 run to stretch the margin to 40-32 on a free throw by first-year Tyler Lauder (Malvern, Pa.) with 15:45 to play. Five straight points by first-year Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) made it 45-36 a little more than three minutes later before the visitors went cold.

Kirkpatrick hit a pull-up jumper at the 7:52 mark but it was Babson's only bucket for more than 10 minutes helping Springfield take its first lead of the game at 49-48 on a layup by Blische with 3:29 remaining. Gao answered a free throw by junior Nick Bray (Hartford, Conn.) to tie the game at 50 with 1:33 to go and Gorgol canned a three-pointer from the left corner on the ensuing possessions to put the Green and White ahead for good.

Bray hit a jumper to get the Pride within one with 32 seconds left but Kirkpatrick was perfect in six trips to the charity stripe over the final 31 seconds to secure the win.

Both teams return to action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts No. 16 WPI while Springfield travels to Wheaton.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers have won three in a row and 14 of their last 19 games against Springfield to improve to 28-42 in the all-time series.
• Babson is now 6-0 on the year when holding its opponents below 70 points.
• The Beavers are 4-1 over the last two seasons in games decided by five points or less.
• Babson's two three-pointers on Saturday are its fewest in a win since making two in a 74-72 victory at Lasell on November 17, 2015.