WORCESTER, Mass.—Senior Bruce Saintilus (Plainville, Mass.) scored a career-high 28 points and Clark University held on to defeat visiting Babson College, 79-75, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Wednesday night inside the Kneller Athletic Center. 

Babson, which had its four-game winning streak snapped, slips to 7-5 overall and 1-2 in league play. Clark has won two straight games to improve to 7-5 overall and 3-0 in the NEWMAC. 

Senior Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) posted a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds and graduate student Felix Kloman (Ipswich, Mass.) added 24 points and four steals to lead the Beavers. Fellow graduate student Alex Stoddard (Wellesley, Mass.) scored 11 points in his first start of the year and first-year Ryan Frauenheim (Manasquan, N.J.) contributed season highs of five assists and five steals in the loss. 

Saintilus finished 9-of-14 from the floor and scored 16 points in the second half, while senior Kekoa McArdle (Pittsfield, Mass.) posted a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Cougars. Classmate Isaiah Taylor (Methuen, Mass.) added 13 points, a game-high eight assists and six rebounds in the victory. 

The Green and White led 18-12 with under nine minutes to play in the opening half but Saintilus scored six points during a 17-6 run that helped Clark go in front 29-24 at the break. The Beavers scored on their first three possessions of the second half to tie the game at 31-all only to see the Cougars respond with a 12-2 run to regain a 43-33 advantage on a bucket by McArdle with 14:14 remaining. 

Kloman and Amado combined for 12 points during a 15-5 spurt to help Babson tie the game at 48 with 10:09 to go, but Saintilus answered with 11 points to key an 20-7 run gave Clark its largest lead of the night at 68-55 on a bucket by McArdle with 4:08 left. The Beavers' deficit was still 10 with less than two minutes remaining before Kloman scored four points in 13 seconds to get within 71-65 at the 1:31 mark. 

Saintilus went 2-of-2 at the line to stretch the margin to 75-67 with 54 seconds to play, and despite missing three free throws the hosts were up 78-71 with 18 ticks left. Frauenheim knocked down a pair at the charity stripe after being fouled on a three-point attempt and Amado scored on a putback after he missed the third intentionally to get Babson within 78-75 with 0:09 to go. The visitors would get no closer though as Saintilus made the second of two free throws to make it a two-possession game. 

The Beavers, who finished with a season-high 11 steals, shot 40.9 percent from the floor and were just 7-of-29 (24.1 percent) from three-point range in the loss. The Cougars shot 59.3 percent in the second half and 50.9 percent for the game in addition to outrebounding the Green and White 42-33. 

Both teams return to action on Saturday as Babson travels to MIT at 2 p.m., while Clark visits Coast Guard at 1 p.m. 

GAME NOTES
•    The Beavers are now 42-41 all-time against Clark and six of the last eight games between the teams played in Worcester have been decided by four points or less. 
•    Four of Babson's five losses this season have come by five points or fewer. 
•    The Green and White is now 0-3 on the year when allowing opponents to shoot 50 percent or better. 
•    Clark's 79 points are the most allowed by Babson in its last 14 NEWMAC games going back to a 79-75 loss at Emerson on January 20 of last year.