WORCESTER, Mass.—Junior Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, Calif.) scored his only hoop of the game with 2.1 seconds remaining to lift No. 12 WPI to a 55-54 win over visiting Babson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon inside Harrington Auditorium.

Babson, which had its five-game winning streak snapped, slips to 13-8 overall and 6-4 in league play while WPI improves to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in the NEWMAC.

Graduate student Ryan Cibull (Alameda, Calif.) matched his season high with five three-pointers on the way to scoring 19 points, while senior Andrew Kirkpatrick (Winnetka, Ill.) and first-year Mark Woolhouse (Lebanon, N.J.) added 10 points apiece for the Beavers. Senior Aaron Gao (Bridgewater, N.J.) chipped in with seven points, seven rebounds and a game-high five assists in the loss.

Senior John Lowther (Hingham, Mass.) led all players with 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, while sophomore Aidan Callahan (Rowley, Mass.) posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 boards to lead the Engineers.

Cibull and Woolhouse scored 17 of Babson's first 19 points as the visitors built a 21-14 lead, its largest of the afternoon, midway through the opening half. WPI answered back with a 13-6 spurt to pull even on a three-pointer by junior Andrew Lufkin (Auburn, N.H.) and got another triple from Lowther with 1:47 left in the stanza to take a 32-31 advantage into the locker room.

The teams combined for just one bucket, a three-pointer by Cibull, over the first 6:29 of the second half before the Engineers regained a 39-36 lead on a jumper by Lufkin with 10:59 to go in the contest. Three straight hoops by Kirkpatrick gave the Beavers a 44-41 edge with 6:44 remaining, and Cibull canned another triple after Callahan tied the game with a free throw to put Babson back up 47-44 with 3:44 left.

Lowther answered with a three-point play on the other end but Gao drained a three-pointer on the ensuing possession and sophomore Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) hit two free throws to give the Beavers a 52-47 lead at the 2:14 mark. Gao pushed the margin back to 54-51 with two free throws with 38 seconds to go but Callahan converted a driving layup to make it a one-point game on the ensuing possession.

Following a timeout, WPI's full-court press forced a turnover and Sevilla, who had missed his first seven shots of the game, caught the ball on the right wing and drove baseline before getting his reverse layup to drop to give the hosts a one-point lead. The Green and White got the ball to midcourt and called timeout with 1.8 seconds remaining but was unable to get first-year Timmy O'Toole (Milton, Mass.) free for a potential game-winning tip-in.

The Beavers, who knocked down eight three-pointers, shot 37 percent from the floor, while WPI shot just 34.4 percent in the win. The Engineers finished with a 42-37 edge on the glass and finished with a 26-12 advantage in paint scoring.

Both teams return to action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts Springfield while WPI takes on MIT.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 50-38 all-time against WPI although the Engineers now own a six-game winning streak in the series.
• Saturday's loss snapped a string of 17 straight wins for Babson when holding its opponents below 60 points.
• The Beavers are now 2-1 this season in games decided by five points or less.
• The Green and White has now held nine consecutive opponents to 64 points or fewer going back to January 7.