Men's Basketball at Clark
Wednesday, January 8 | 6 p.m.
Kneller Athletic Center | Worcester, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 42-40 all-time against Clark in a series that dates all the way back to the 1934-35 campaign.
• The Beavers have won seven of the last eight games in the series and are 18-2 versus the Cougars over the last decade.
• Five of the last seven contests between the teams in Worcester have been decided by four points or less.
• The Green and White has been victorious in its last four visits to the Kneller Athletic Center dating back to 2022.
LAST MEETING
•
Steph Baxter M'24 scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the first half and senior
Nate Amado added 22 points and 10 rebounds to help Babson defeat Clark, 73-64, in the NEWMAC Tournament final on February 24, 2024, in Worcester.
• Baxter was selected as the tournament most outstanding player and senior
David Cross and junior
Tyler Lauder added eight points apiece for the Beavers, who led by as many as 18 points early in the second half.
• Bruce Saintilus finished with 20 points and six rebounds, while Isaiah Taylor and Kekoa McArdle added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cougars, who were just 7-of-17 at the free throw line in the loss.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (7-4, 1-1 NEWMAC) has now won four consecutive games after handing then-third-ranked Trinity its first loss, 99-89 in 2OT, on Saturday inside Staake Gymnasium.
• Amado finished with 24 points and seven rebounds, graduate student
Alex Stoddard scored a career-high 22 points and classmate
Felix Kloman added 19 points and a career-high seven assists for the Beavers, who shot 46.7 percent and overcame a four-point deficit in the first extra session.
• Kloman (18.9 pts, 4.2 reb, 2.6 ast, 1.7 blocks) is shooting 46.6 percent and has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games, Amado (17.8 pts, 8.0 reb, 3.0 ast) has put up 20 or more points four times on the year, and first-year
Timmy Mulvey (9.9 pts, 3.2 ast) is shooting 45.8 percent from beyond the arc.
• The Green and White is averaging 75.5 points on 44.7 percent shooting on the year and held its first two conference foes to just 62.0 points.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• Clark (6-5, 2-0 NEWMAC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 96-83 win over Bridgewater State on Saturday.
• McArdle led five players in double figures with 21 points, Saintilus finished with 16 points, seven assists and four steals, and Taylor added 13 points and six assists for the Cougars, who shot 48.6 percent and knocked down 13 three-pointers in the victory.
• Saintilus (16.7 pts, 4.5 reb, 4.4 ast) has scored in double figures in 34 of the last 38 games, Taylor (13.3 pts, 5.0 ast, 4.5 reb) is shooting just 33.3 percent in three games since returning from injury, Reid Neumann (10.8 pts, 3.6 reb) leads the team with 35 three-pointers and McArdle (10.5 pts, 8.6 reb) has four double-doubles on the year.
• Clark averaged 95.5 points and shot 54.5 percent from beyond the arc (36-of-66) in December wins over Wheaton and Salve Regina, and ranks eighth in Division III in three-pointers per game (11.6) and ninth in attempts (32.0).
KLOMAN, AMADO SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS
• Following a 3-0 week that included victories over then-No. 6 Wooster and then-No. 6 Trinity, Kloman was tabbed as the NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week while Amado earned defensive player of the week recognition.
• Kloman, who also was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week on Tuesday, averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 blocks and 1.7 steals and earned E.M. "Mose" Hole Tournament MVP honors.
• Amado, who was named to the E.M. "Mose" Hole All-Tournament team, averaged 20.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.0 blocks.
GIANT KILLERS
• The Beavers are 3-1 this season against nationally-ranked foes and have handed No. 6 Trinity, No. 10 Wooster and No. 22 WPI their first loss of the season over the last month.
• The last time Babson defeated three nationally-ranked teams in the same season came back in 2016-17 when it upended No. 3 Tufts in December, the 14th-ranked Jumbos again in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and No. 1 Whitman in the national semifinals on the way to capturing the program's first national championship.
KEEPING GOOD COMPANY
• Babson, which ranks ninth in Division III in adjusted efficiency margin according to The D3 Datacast, is one of just seven teams to rank in the top 25 in both adjusted offense and defense.
• The Green and White is 23rd in adjusted offense averaging 115.1 points per 100 possessions and is 18th in defense allowing just 88.4 points per 100 possessions.
• No. 1 Wisconsin-Platteville, No. 4 NYU, No. 5 Washington University, No. 6 Trinity, No. 9 Wesleyan and No. 18 Randolph-Macon are the other teams ranked in the top 25 in both adjusted offense and defense.
BEAVER BITES
• Junior
Timmy O'Toole posted his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's win over Trinity.
• First-year
Ryan Frauenheim matched his season high with six points and has gone 5-of-6 from three-point range over the last three games.
• Amdo passed Peter Boretti '87 and Nick Comenale '18 for 16th place on the Beavers' all-time scoring list with 1,234 points on Saturday and with 74 blocked shots he is now just one shy of tying Bradley Jacks '18 for fourth place on the program's all-time list.
• In his last five outings, Stoddard is averaging 14.4 points on 45.5 percent shooting.
• Kloman (48), Amado (46), Stoddard (45) and O'Toole (36) all set new career highs in minutes in Saturday's 2OT thriller versus Trinity.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson has scored at least 1.05 points per possession in four straight outings and nine of its 11 games this winter.
• The Beavers are 4-4 in their last eight NEWMAC road games dating back to last year.
• The Green and White is 5-0 this season and 12-1 since the start of last year when holding its foes below 40 percent shooting.
• Babson is 7-1 this season when leading with five minutes to go in regulation.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers travel to Cambridge to face MIT on Saturday at 2 p.m.
