Men's Basketball at WPI
Saturday, January 24 | 2 p.m. 
Harrington Auditorium | Worcester, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 53-42 all-time against WPI in a series that dates back to the 1974-75 campaign. 
•    The teams have split their last four matchups doing back to the 2024 NEWMAC semifinals and five of the last eight contests between the Beavers and Engineers have been decided by six points or fewer.
•    Despite winning its last two conference tournament games inside Harrington Auditorium, the Green and White has dropped five straight regular season contests at WPI since a 93-81 victory back in 2020.

LAST MEETING
•    Nathan Bledsoe scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the first half and Nicholas Magestson hit the go-ahead free throw with 59 seconds remaining to lift WPI to a 65-60 win over the Beavers back on December 3 in Babson Park. 
•    Justin Molen finished with 18 points and seven assists for the Engineers, who limited Babson to just three field goals over the final 10 minutes of the contest. 
•    Junior Marc Begin II and sophomore Timmy Mulvey both scored 13 points and senior Timmy O'Toole finished with eight points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals for the Green and White, which went 0-of-13 from beyond the arc in the second half. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (12-5, 6-2 NEWMAC) has won six consecutive games after defeating Salve Regina, 89-74, on Thursday night. 
•    First-year Thomas Ferdinando scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half, O'Toole posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and first-year Robby Fiore and Mulvey added 14 and 12 points, respectively for the Beavers, who shot 52.9 percent in the first half and led by as many as 31 just over three minutes into the second half. 
•    Ferdinando (15.2 pts, 3.8 reb, 2.6 ast) ranks fifth in the league in scoring and is shooting 49.6 percent from three-point range, Mulvey (14.2 pts, 2.7 ast) is one of four NEWMAC players among the top 11 in both scoring and assists, and O'Toole (10.1 pts, 9.1 reb) leads the league in rebounding and is shooting 57 percent from the field. 
•    The Green and White ranks first in league play in scoring defense allowing just 60.1 points and is committing a league-low 8.6 turnovers. 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    WPI (14-3, 7-1 NEWMAC) has won four straight games and is coming off an 82-70 victory at Wheaton on Thursday night. 
•    Molen poured in 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting and Tim Reidy (18 points), Bledsoe (15 points) and Jack Bleir (14 points) also scored in double figures for the Engineers, who shot 52.6 percent from the floor and outscored the Lyons 40-22 in the paint. 
•    Bledsoe (15.3 pts, 5.9 reb) has scored in double figures in five straight games and ranks fifth in the league with 51 three-pointers, Molen (15.1 pts, 6.9 reb, 3.7 ast) is the only NEWMAC player that ranks among the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists, and Reidy (12.6 pts) is shooting 47.7 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from long range. 
•    WPI ranks first in league play in scoring offense (78.1 points), rebounding margin (+3.6) and field goal percentage defense (39.2). 

O'TOOLE COLLECTS NEWMAC WEEKLY HONOR
•    After averaging 8.7 points, 14.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.0 blocks, O'Toole was tabbed as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday. 
•    He pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds to go along with three blocks and three steals last Tuesday at Springfield, recorded a season-high four steals while blocking two shots in Thursday's victory over Wheaton and capped the week with 11 points, 15 boards and two steals in the triumph over Emerson. 

DIALING UP THE DEFENSE
•    Through its first eight conference games, the Beavers rank first in scoring defense (60.1 points), are tied for first with WPI in forced turnovers (13.5), and rank second in opponent field goal percentage (41.4), opponent three-point field goal percentage (29.7) and rebounding margin (+3.4). 
•    Babson has limited its opponents to less than a point per possession five times over the last six games and are holding its foes to 0.85 points per possession on 39 percent shooting during this stretch. 

THREE AT A TIME
•    Ferdinando tied the Beavers' freshman record of 56 three-pointers set by Michael Kingsley '97 in 1993-94 and matched by Mark Giovino '98 in 1994-95 in Thursday's win over Salve Regina and ranks second in Division III in three-point field goal percentage (49.6), fifth in three-pointers per game (3.29) and eighth in total triples. 
•    Mulvey has already achieved a new career high with 53 trifectas this season and ranks 12th in three-point field goals, 15th in three-point percentage (44.5) and 18th nationally in three-pointers per game (3.12). 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    Senior Tyler Lauder has already set a new career high with 20 rejections this winter, and has doled out four or more assists seven times on the year, which includes matching his season high with six dimes versus Salve Regina. 
•    Over the last four games, Mulvey is averaging 16.4 points and has gone 22-of-40 (55 percent) from beyond the arc. 
•    O'Toole, who passed former teammate Nate Amado '25 for ninth place on Babson's career list with 668 rebounds, leads the team with four double-doubles and has pulled down 10 or more boards eight times in 17 games. 
•    In eight games since returning from the holiday break, Ferdinando is averaging 18.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 50.9 percent from three-point land. 
•    Fiore scored in double figures for the sixth time this season in the win over Salve Regina and matched his career high with four three-pointers. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 7-1 this season when leading at halftime although their lone loss came in the December 3 meeting against WPI.
•    Babson is 9-1 this winter when making at least 10 three-pointers, while just two teams have made 10 or more triples versus the Engineers on the year.
•    The Green and White is 11-2 on the year when three or more players score in double figures. 
•    The Beavers are 6-1 this season in games decided by five points or less.

UP NEXT
•    Babson heads back to Worcester to take on Clark next Saturday at 4 p.m.