Men's Basketball at Albertus Magnus
Saturday, November 11 | 3 p.m.
The Nest | New Haven, Conn. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson and Albertus Magnus will meet for just the third time on Saturday in a series that dates back to 2016. 
•    The teams split the two previous meetings with the Beavers winning at home in 2016 and the Falcons returning the favor in New Havein in 2017.
 
LAST MEETING
•    Jaqhawn Walters and Mason Jones combined for 34 second-half points as Albertus Magnus rallied to defeat Babson, 85-81, on November 29, 2017, in New Haven. 
•    Walters finished with 31 points and 14 rebounds and Jones added 21 points for the Falcons, who shot 54.7 percent and trailed by as many as 10 early in the second half. 
•    Nick Comenale '18 led four players in double figures with 23 points, while Bradley Jacks '18 contributed 15 points and five rebounds for the Beavers, who led 70-63 with just over seven minutes to play. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (1-0) opened the season with an 86-53 win over Lasell on Wednesday night inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    Junior Nate Amado scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the first half and graduate student Steph Baxter (14) and sophomores Tyler Lauder (12) and Jeremiah Paul (11) all joined him in double figures as the Beavers shot 56.7 percent in the second half and 49.3 percent for the game. 
•    The Green and White graduated three of its top four scorers but returns nine players from a team that went 19-9 and made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance after capturing a NEWMAC Tournament championship last winter. 
•    Amado, who missed nearly all of January due to injury, averaged a team-high 17.5 points on 46.2 percent shooting to go along with 6.5 rebounds, while senior John Gorgol was averaging 6.4 points on 47.5 percent shooting and 4.6 rebounds before suffering a season-ending injury midway through the year. 

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
•    Albertus Magnus (0-0) returns 13 players from a team that finished 19-10 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning its first GNAC championship since 2019. 
•    The Falcons bring back four of their top five scorers led by Antonio Bonilla (11.7 pts, 2.2 reb), who made 74 three-pointers, and Justice Washington (10.9 pts, 10.5 reb), who shot 65.5 percent from the floor. 
•    Tazhon Daniels (8.2 pts, 2.2 ast) started 25 of 29 games and was second on the team in assists, while Kevin Crawford averaged 6.9 points and a team-high 2.6 assists in addition to shooting 47.9 percent. 
•    Albertus Magnus, which averaged 83.9 points and owned a +11.1 rebounding margin last winter, was picked to finish first in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll. 

RISE AND FIRE
•    The Beavers attempted 36 three-point field goals in Wednesday's season opener, which is their highest total since December 4, 2021, when they also took 36 in an OT win over Salem State. 
•    The Green and White shot 36.1 percent from beyond the arc and connected on 13 triples, which is its most since making 14 in an 87-64 victory over Clark on January 25 of last year. 
•    Eight different players made at least one three-pointer and nine players had at least two attempts from deep.

STARTING OFF STRONG
•    Lauder, Paul and sophomore Jojo Chalumeau, who knocked down a pair of second-half three-pointers for six points, all set new career highs in scoring in Wednesday's win over Lasell. 
•    First-years Jared Flaks and Jake Peterson both connected on their first career field goal attempts as all 12 players scored for the Green and White.

POLL POSITION
•    Babson, which captured its first NEWMAC Tournament championship since 2016 with a 59-53 win over WPI last February, was picked to finish second behind the Engineers when the league released its preseason coaches' poll back in October. 
•    WPI collected five first-place votes to finish atop the poll with 60 points, the Beavers earned three-place votes and totaled 58 points and Clark came in third with 52 points after claiming the final first-place vote. 
•    The Green and White is also one of 30 programs to receive votes in the D3hoops.com preseason poll. 

VETERAN ADDITION
•    Baxter, who went 6-of-11 from the floor, added three rebounds, one assist and one steal to go along with 14 points in his Babson debut after transferring from Bates.  
•    Baxter averaged 16.9 points and career highs of 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists as a senior for the Bobcats last winter. 
•    In three seasons at Bates, he scored 1,045 points and averaged 15.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 41.9 percent from the floor. 

DEAN OF THE NEWMAC
•    Head coach Stephen Brennan enters his 29th season at Babson with 466 wins, which ranks first among NEWMAC coaches and 14th among active Division III head coaches. 
•    The 2017 NABC Coach of the Year, Brennan led the Beavers to 11 wins over their final 13 games to help the program capture its third NEWMAC Tournament championship since 2015 and a third straight NCAA Tournament berth. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    Babson is 14-3 going back to the start of last season when shooting at least 40 percent.
•    The Beavers were 11-2 last winter when forcing 16 or more turnovers. 
•    The Green and White are 46-3 since the start of the 2019-20 campaign when outrebounding its opponents. 
•    Babson is 17-3 since the start of last year when holding its foes below 70 points. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers travel to St. Louis, Mo., for the Lopata Classic at Washington University next weekend. They'll take on the host Bears in Friday's opening round and will face either Hanover or Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Saturday.