ST. LOUIS, Mo.—Graduate student Steph Baxter (Worcester, Mass.) scored a career-high 40 points but visiting Babson College suffered a 90-85 overtime loss to 22nd-ranked Washington University in the opening round of the 39th Annual Lopata Classic inside the Wash U. Field House on Friday night. 

With its second consecutive loss, Babson slips to 1-2 on the year while WashU improves to 3-0 overall. 

Baxter knocked down four three-pointers and finished 15-of-30 from the floor while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out a team-high five assists to lead the Beavers. Junior Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) scored 22 points and sophomore Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) led all players with 12 boards and two steals in the loss. 

Junior Drake Kindsvater (Frisco, Texas) led five players in double figures with 22 points and sophomore Calvin Kapral (Redwood City, Calif.) added 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting for the Bears. Junior Hayden Doyle (Brookfield, Wis.) posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists, while sophomores Yogi Oliff (Skokie, Ill.) and Will Grudzinski (Barrington, Ill.) finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively. 

The Green and White shot 55.9 percent from the floor on the way to building a 37-24 lead, its largest of the game, on a jumper by Baxter with 2:46 to go in the first half.  The Beavers were up 45-36 at the break and used a three-point by Baxter and a jumper by Amado to push its advantage back to 50-38 with 16:55 to play in regulation. 

Four straight points by Doyle capped a 12-4 run that helped WashU get within 54-50 at the 13:03 mark, but consecutive three-pointers by Amado and Baxter pushed Babson's lead back to 10 less than a minute later. Baxter scored 16 of the Beavers' next 18 points and converted a hoop in the paint to make it 78-71 with 1:57 to go. 

Sophomore Tyler Lauder's (Malvern, Pa.) dunk kept the Green and White in front 80-75 with 30 seconds remaining but Oliff hit a jumper on the ensuing possession and then stole and inbounds pass following a timeout to set up Grudzinski's game-tying three-pointer from the right wing with 11 seconds to go. Baxter couldn't get a driving layup to go down with 0:03 left and Lauder's off-balance jumper at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim sending the game to overtime. 

The Bears took their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest on a layup by Kapral with 3:41 to go in the extra session, and got another hoop by Kapral and a free three from Doyle to extend the lead to 88-83 with 54 seconds remaining. Baxter made it a three-point game with a jumper on the next possession, but Grudzinski drained two free throws with 17 seconds left to make it a two-possession game. 

Babson will meet Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the Lopata Classic consolation game at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, while WashU takes on Hanover in the championship game at 6 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 1-3 all-time against WashU and Friday's meeting was the first between the teams since 2007.
•    Baxter's 40 points are the most by a Babson player since Joey Flannery '17 put up 41 in a 2OT loss at Amherst on December 8, 2016. 
•    Babson is now 7-4 since 2021-22 in games decided by five points or less. 
•    Friday's loss was the first for the Beavers when scoring 80 points or more since March 7, 2021, when it suffered a 92-82 3OT loss at Saint Joseph (Conn.).