BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Thomas Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) and first-year Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ontario) tallied a goal and an assist each, first-year Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) collected three assists and senior Nolan Hildebrand (Penticton, B.C.) made 21 saves in goal as third-seeded Babson College knocked off the University of Massachusetts Boston, 5-1, in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey tournament quarterfinal on Saturday afternoon inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the win, the Beavers have won their last two games and improve to 16-8-2 overall while UMass Boston winds up its season at 11-15-0.

Graduate student Max Torrez (Framingham, Mass.), senior James Perullo (Revere, Mass.) and first-year Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) also scored for the Beavers and senior Andrew Holland (Winchester, Mass.), sophomore Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) and first-years Nolan Woudenberg (Collegeville, Pa.), Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.) and Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) registered assists in the victory.

Sophomore Kolye Bankauskas (Coventy, R.I.) scored the lone goal on a second-period breakaway that pulled the Beacons to within 2-1 after two periods. Senior goal Sam Best (Woburn, Mass.) finished with 32 saves in the setback.

Babson set the tone with a pair of first-period goals to take a 2-0 lead. Murphy collected a rebound after Best made a save on Woudenberg's shot from the left point, sent a pass to Perullo at the left point, and Perullo sent a shot through traffic the got past Best for a 1-0 advantage at the 7:53 mark. Kennedy then sent a diagonal pass to Murphy at the back post, who buried it for a 2-0 lead at 11:20.

UMass Boston cut the deficit to 2-1 less than two minutes into the second period when Bankauskas picked up a loose puck in center ice of a Babson skate and went in alone and ripped one past Hildebrand off the inside of the left post at 1:38. The Green and White killed off a pair of penalties and came up empty on their own power play opportunity to go into the third period with the one-goal lead.

The Beavers started to pull away five minutes into the third period. Best made a save on Holland's shot from the right circle but Torrez pounced on the rebound from the left side and fired it into the empty net for a 3-1 lead at 4:54. Kramer beat Best from the slot after a pass from behind the net from Kennedy at 11:15, and Cavanagh rounded out the scoring at 15:41, snapping home a shot from the left circle on a feed from George.

Babson end up with a 37-22 advantage in shots on goal. The Beavers went 1-for-2 on the power play and killed off all three Beacon chances with the man advantage.

Semifinal pairings will be announced after all quarterfinals are complete.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won nine of the last 11 games against UMB at the Babson Skating Center and now has a 50-22-6 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1978-79 season.
• Saturday's win give the Beavers an 8-1 record in the past nine NEHC quarterfinal playoff games going back to 2013.
• The Green and White are 11-1 this season when leading after the second period, and 45-1-1 when leading after two periods the past four seasons.
• The Beavers are 12-3-1 this winter when scoring on the power play, and 33-6-2 with a PPG over the past three seasons.