WOOSTER, Ohio—Graduate student
Felix Kloman (Ipswich, Mass.) led all scorers with 22 points and Babson College built a 23-point second-half lead on the way to defeating Case Western Reserve University, 73-59, on the opening night of the E.M. "Mose" Hole/Kiwanis Classic inside Timken Gymnasium on the campus of the College of Wooster on Sunday night.
Babson, which has won four of its last five games, improves to 5-4 on the year. Case Western Reserve has drooped two straight and five of its last six contests to slip to 4-6 overall.
Kloman knocked down four three-pointers and went 9-of-15 from the floor to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals, while senior
Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) contributed 13 points, eight boards and a game-high four steals to lead the Beavers. Graduate student
Alex Stoddard (Wellesley, Mass.) scored nine points and the first-year trio of
Timmy Mulvey (Reading, Mass.),
Ryan Frauenheim (Manasquan, N.J.) and
Vaughn Foster (Paramus, N.J.) chipped in with six points apiece in the win.
Senior Sam Trunley (Glen Ridge, N.J.) scored 17 points to lead the Spartans, who entered the game averaging 83.6 points and were held to their lowest output since 2019 in the loss. Classmate Umar Rashid (Canton, Ga.) added eight points, a team-high five rebounds and three assists in the loss.
Kloman scored eight consecutive points to give the Green and White an 11-4 advantage just over five minutes into the game and Amado followed up a bucket by Stoddard with five of the next seven points to extend the lead to 20-8 with 7:25 remaining in the opening stanza. Back-to-back hoops by Trunley cut the Case Western Reserve deficit to eight but the Beavers closed the half with a 12-5 run that included a transition dunk by sophomore
NeJohn Fortes (New Bedford, Mass.) and a corner three-pointer by Foster to make it 32-17 at the break.
Mulvey, Amado and Frauenheim opened the second half with three-pointers to stretch the margin to 41-23, and Kloman canned a pair of triples to give Babson a 54-32 advantage with 11:24 remaining. The Spartans got within 16 on a three-pointer by Trunley with 4:32 left only to see the Green and White answer with a 10-3 run that included five points from Stoddard to take its largest lead of the night at 73-50 with just over two minutes to play.
The Beavers shot 50.9 percent from the floor and made 13 three-pointers, which includes going 9-of-12 from beyond the arc in the second half. They also finished with a 38-23 edge on the glass.
Case Western Reserve shot just 31.8 percent in the first half and 41.2 percent for the game while making a season-low seven three-pointers in the loss.
Both teams are back in action on Monday as Babson faces No. 6 Wooster at 6 p.m., while the Spartans take on Pitt-Bradford at 4 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 1-0 all-time against Case Western Reserve and 2-1 this season versus UAA foes.
• Babson held the Spartans to their lowest scoring output since November 26, 2019, when they defeated Denison 51-45.
• The Green and White is now 5-1 this winter when holding its opponents below 70 points.
• Four of the Beavers five wins this season have come by at least 10 points.
