Men's Basketball at Wheaton
Saturday, February 14 | 3 p.m. 
Emerson Gymnasium | Norton, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 44-16 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to the 1989-90 campaign.
•    The Beavers and Lyons have split their last four contests with the home team claiming each matchup.
•    The Green and White has dropped back-to-back road games in the series by a total of six points and each of the last three games inside Emerson Gymnasium have been decided by six points or fewer.
•    Babson is seeking its first season sweep of Wheaton since 2022. 

LAST MEETING
•    Sophomore Timmy Mulvey tied the program's single-game record by going 8-of-11 from three-point range on the way to scoring 24 points as the Beavers defeated Wheaton, 73-55, on January 15 in Babson Park. 
•    First-year Thomas Ferdinando contributed 12 points, five assists and four rebounds, and sophomore Logan Murphy provided 11 points for Babson, which shot 52.7 percent and led by 10 at the half before opening up a 26-point advantage with less than five minutes to play. 
•    Tristan Herry came off the bench to score 14 points, Dimetri Iafrate contributed 13 points and two steals, and Wyatt Benoit provided 10 of his 12 points in the final minutes for the Lyons, who were just 4-of-16 (25 percent) from three-point range in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (16-6, 10-3 NEWMAC) has won nine of its last 10 games after defeating Emerson, 82-68, in Boston on Wednesday night. 
•    Mulvey scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, Ferdinando added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists and senior Tyler Lauder posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Beavers, who saw all five starters score in double figures and turned 11 offensive rebounds into 23 second chance points. 
•    Ferdinando (16.0 pts, 3.7 reb, 2.5 ast) ranks fifth in the league in scoring and his hit double figures in 13 straight games, Mulvey (15.3 pts, 2.6 ast) has scored in double figures in 10 straight outings and ranks first in the NEWMAC with 74 three-pointers, and senior Timmy O'Toole (10.4 pts, 8.8 reb) leads the conference in rebounding and is shooting 59 percent from the field. 
•    The Green and White ranks first in NEWMAC play in scoring defense allowing 62.7 points, is forcing a league-high 14.8 turnovers and also ranks first in rebounding margin (+3.7). 

SCOUTING THE LYONS
•    Wheaton (15-7, 8-5 NEWMAC) has won two straight and four of its last five games after defeating Clark, 80-65, on Wednesday night in Worcester. 
•    Iafrate finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals, Herry scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting and Sean Perri added 14 points for the Lyons, who turned the Cougars over 20 times and shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half. 
•    Iafrate (18.8 pts, 5.0 reb, 4.8 ast, 2.9 stl) is first in the conference and tied for 13th in Division III in steals in addition to ranking second in the NEWMAC in both scoring and assists, Eoin Morrissey (12.1 pts, 7.5 reb) is fourth in the conference in rebounding and Herry (11.1 pts, 2.2 ast) has scored in double figures in six consecutive outings while averaging 14.3 points.
•    Wheaton ranks second in conference play forcing 14.4 turnovers and is 7-2 against NEWMAC foes when scoring 70 points this winter. 

O'TOOLE COLLECTS CONFERENCE WEEKLY HONOR
•    For the third time over the last four weeks and the fourth time this season, O'Toole was selected as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. 
•    He averaged 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 2.0 blocks and recorded a double-double, a season-high five steals and two blocks in last Wednesday's win over Coast Guard, before following it up with four steals and two rejections in just 14 minutes of action on Saturday versus Springfield. 

PLAYOFF PUSH
•    The Beavers enter Saturday in second place in the NEWMAC standings, a game behind first-place WPI (11-2), a game in front of third-place Salve Regina (9-4) and two games ahead of Wheaton (8-5). 
•    All four teams have secured their spot in this month's conference Tournament, which begins on February 24, and the top two seeds will earn a bye into the semifinals. 
•    Babson also enters the weekend sitting at No. 34 in the Division III NPI and is one of two NEWMAC programs, along with No. 24 WPI, currently in the NCAA Tournament picture. 

MOVING UP THE CHARTS
•    With his three rebounds last Saturday against Springfield, O'Toole became just the ninth player in school history to reach 700 for his career and is now just 15 boards away from John Wickey '15, who ranks eighth all-time with 721 caroms. O'Toole also ranks sixth all-time with 68 blocked shots and is 14th in program history with 135 steals. 
•    O'Toole's 87 offensive rebounds this season are now the most by a Babson player since the statistic started being tracked in 1999-2000 after he passed the previous mark of 84 set by Isaiah Nelsen '17 during the 2015-16 campaign. 
•    Mulvey's 74 three-pointers are tied for seventh on the Beavers' single-season list with Michael Kingsley '97, who drilled 74 triples in both 1994-95 and 1995-96. 
•    Lauder ranks 11th in program history with 58 blocked shots. 
•    Ferdinando's 68 three-pointers have already shattered the Babson rookie record of 56 and has him tied for 11th on the program's single-season list.

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    Lauder has scored in double figures in three straight games while averaging 11.7 points on 58.3 percent shooting, and ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.64 assist-to-turnover ratio.
•    Mulvey leads the NEWMAC and is fourth in Division III in three-pointers per game (3.36) and enters the weekend ranked 15th in the country in three-point percentage (43.0). 
•    Ferdinando ranks ninth in Division III in three-point field goal percentage (43.9) and is 16th nationally in three-pointers per game (3.09). 
•    Four of O'Toole's team-leading six double-doubles have come during the Beavers' last eight games. 
•    Murphy scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting and grabbed a season-high six rebounds on Wednesday at Emerson, and is 13-of-14 (92.9 percent) at the free throw line over the last five games.
•    Junior NeJohn Fortes, who grabbed five rebounds in a season-high 17 minutes on Saturday against Springfield, contributed four points, two steals and a blocked shot on Wednesday at Emerson.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 5-1 on the road against NEWMAC opponents this winter. 
•    Babson is 13-0 on the year when outrebounding its foes. 
•    The Green and White is 18-2 going back to the start of last year when allowing 67 points or fewer. 
•    The Beavers are 11-1 this winter and have won 19 of their last 20 games when making 10 or more three-pointers. 

UP NEXT
•    Babson welcomes MIT to Staake Gymnasium for its regular season home finale on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.