NEW YORK—Graduate student Felix Kloman (Ipswich, Mass.) poured in a game-high 27 points but visiting Babson College suffered an 86-74 loss to No. 22 New York University in the opening game of the NYU Tip-Off Classic on Saturday evening inside the John A. Paulson Center. 

Babson opens the season at 0-1 while NYU starts 1-0. 

Kloman finished 10-of-18 shooting and scored 17 points in the second half while adding two assists and two blocked shots to pace the Beavers. Senior Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and first-year Timmy Mulvey (Reading, Mass.) scored 14 points and dished out five assists in the loss. 

Sophomore Hampton Sanders (South Brunswick, N.J.) scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting to go along with six rebounds and five assists to lead the Violets. Senior Zay Freeney (Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, while graduate student Jack Stone (Newport Beach, Calif.) scored 16 points and handed out five assists in the win. Fellow graduate student Emmanuel Onuama (Aguleri, Anambra, Nigeria) also chipped in with 15 points and a game-high nine boards. 

The Green and White trailed by as many as eight at 24-16 following a dunk by Onuama with 8:10 remaining in the first half. Mulvey canned a pair of three-pointers to cut the deficit to 26-25 less than two minutes later, Amado followed-up a jumper by Kloman with four straight points and Mulvey buried another triple to cap a 19-7 run that helped the Beavers take a 35-31 lead with less than three minutes left in the first half. 

Down two at the break, NYU knocked down three straight three-pointers and scored on eight consecutive possessions to forge a 58-50 advantage on a three-pointer by Freeney with 14:24 to go in the game. Onuama and Sanders both knocked down a pair of free throws, graduate student Tristan How (Virginia Beach, Va.) buried a jumper and classmate Chuma Oyigbo (Stoughton, Mass.) canned a triple to give as the Violets extended the margin to 67-54 with 10:53 remaining. 

Babson responded with a 12-2 run that included points from five different players to get within 69-66 on a pair of free throws by first-year Ryan Frauenheim (Manasquan, N.J.) with 6:00 left. Unfortunately it was unable to get any closer as Sanders scored seven of the next nine points for NYU, which held the Green and White without a field goal for nearly six minutes while pushing its lead to as many as 14 late. 

The Beavers shot 45.2 percent from the floor and committed just seven turnovers. The Violets shot 55.2 percent in the second half and 51.7 percent for the game while finishing with a 43-34 edge on the glass. 

Babson will meet Rowan at 2 p.m. on Sunday, while NYU hosts Rowan at 4 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are 1-3 all-time against NYU and Saturday's contest was the first between the teams since 1985. 
•    Babson's 74 points are its most in a loss since January 20 of last year when it suffered a 79-75 setback at Emerson. 
•    Mulvey's 14 points are the most by a Babson first-year in his collegiate debut since Travis Sheldon '16 scored 15 points in a 74-62 win over Salve Regina on November 17, 2012.