Men's Basketball vs. Wheaton
NEWMAC Tournament | Final
Sunday, March 1 | 1 p.m. 
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass. 

SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 45-16 all-time against Wheaton in a series that dates back to the 1989-90 campaign. 
•    The Beavers have won three straight and seven of their last 10 games versus the Lyons since 2022. 
•    Five of the last eight games have been decided by eight points or less. 
•    The Green and White is 13-2 inside Staake Gymnasium against Wheaton going back to 2011. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY 
•    Babson is 4-0 all-time against Wheaton in the conference playoffs although Sunday's contest marks the first meeting between the teams in the NEWMAC Tournament since the 2012 quarterfinals.
•    The Beavers and Lyons have met in the conference tournament final just once previously, a 44-42 Babson victory back on February 23, 2002, in Worcester, Mass. 

LAST MEETING
•    Sophomore Timmy Mulvey and first-year Thomas Ferdinando combined for 42 points and Babson embarked on a 17-0 run with just over nine minutes to play to help Babson defeat Wheaton, 89-72, on February 14 in Norton, Mass. 
•    Ferdinando finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Mulvey scored 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and senior Timmy O'Toole and sophomore Vaughn Foster added 12 points apiece for the Beavers, who shot 55.4 percent and held a 37-18 edge on the glass. 
•    Dimetri Iafrate poured in 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting and Tristan Herry added 15 points and six assists for the Lyons, who shot 48 percent and led by as many as eight just past the midway point of the first half. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Babson (20-6) has won eight consecutive games and advanced to the NEWMAC Tournament final with a 78-58 victory over third-seeded Salve Regina in Friday night's semifinals. 
•    Mulvey led all players with 21 points, Ferdinando provided 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and sophomores Ryan Frauenheim and Logan Murphy scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Beavers, who went in front for good with a 12-0 run late in the first half and then shot 55.2 percent over the final 20 minutes. 
•    Ferdinando (16.7 pts, 4.2 reb, 2.8 ast) ranks fifth in the NEWMAC in scoring and has finished with 20 or more points in four of the last six games, Mulvey (16.1 pts, 2.5 ast) is eighth in the league in scoring and has connected on at least three three-pointers in 13 straight contests, and senior Timmy O'Toole (10.0 pts, 9.0 reb) leads the conference in rebounding and is shooting 58 percent from the field. 
•    The Green and White ranks first against conference foes in scoring defense (62.5 points), rebounding margin (+4.4) and forced turnovers (14.9), and is making a league best 10.3 three-pointers per game. 

SCOUTING THE LYONS
•    Fourth-seeded Wheaton (17-10) advanced to its first NEWMAC Tournament final since 2005 and snapped a 27-game losing streak to WPI by defeating the 21st-ranked and top-seeded Engineers, 82-60, in Friday's semifinals. 
•    Herry scored 25 points, Iafrate finished with 24 points, seven steals, six rebounds and three assists, and Eoin Morrissey added 13 points and seven boards for the Lyons, who shot 49.1 percent and committed just seven turnovers in the win. 
•    Iafrate (19.7 pts, 5.1 reb, 4.6 ast, 2.9 stl) is shooting 56.3 percent from the field, ranks first in the conference in steals and second in both scoring and assists, Herry (12.0 pts, 2.3 ast) has reached double figures in 11 straight games and is averaging 20.5 points in two NEWMAC Tournament contests, and Morrissey (11.8 pts, 7.4 reb) is fourth in the league in rebounding and has dished out three or more assists in five of his last seven outings. 
•    Wheaton has limited its first two NEWMAC Tournament opponents Springfield and WPI to just 56.0 points on 34.4 percent shooting while outscoring them 37-15 at the free throw line.

WHAT'S AT STAKE ON SUNDAY
•    Babson enters Sunday ranked 25th in the Division III NPI and is projected to earn one of 21 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament should it fail to win the NEWMAC's automatic berth with a victory on Sunday. 
•    Wheaton is seeking both its first NEWMAC championship and NCAA Tournament berth.

LYON HUNTERS
•    Mulvey is averaging 22.0 points on 63.6 percent shooting in two games this winter versus Wheaton, which includes making a career-high eight three-pointers in the Beavers' January 15 win inside Staake Gymnasium. 
•    Ferdinando averaged 17.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two regular season games against the Lyons, while O'Toole has contributed 9.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists. 

HIGH FIVE! 
•    For the fourth time in the last six weeks and fifth time overall on the year, O'Toole was selected as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. 
•    He averaged 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and one steal in the Beavers' victories over MIT and Salve Regina. 
•    O'Toole grabbed 11 boards while blocking two shots in last Wednesday's win over the Engineers and followed it up with five rebounds, one block and one steal in just 17 minutes of action in the triumph over the Seahawks. 

POSTSEASON PEDIGREE
•    Led by head coach Stephen Brennan, the Beavers have capture six conference championships (2002, 2004, 2015, 2016, 2023, 2024) and have now advanced to the NEWMAC final six times over the last 11 years. 
•    Sunday's contest marks the first time Babson has hosted the conference final since 2017 when it fell to MIT before rattling off six consecutive victories to capture the program's first Division III national championship.
•    In addition to the conference tournament success, Brennan, who picked up his 500th career win back in November, has guided Babson to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four since 2020, two trips to the Division III Final Four (2015, 2017) and the program's first national championship in 2017.

THREE AT A TIME
•    Mulvey enters the weekend ranked second in Division III in three-pointers per game (3.50), third in total three-pointers (91), and eighth in three-point field goal percentage (43.8), while Ferdinando ranks first among freshmen and ninth overall nationally in total three-pointers (82), ninth in three-point percentage (43.6), and 12th in triples per game (3.15).
•    Mulvey's 91 three-pointers this winter rank second in single-season program history behind only Nick Comenale '18, who made 110 three-pointers in 2016-17.
•    Mulvey also has moved into ninth place on the program's all-time list with 143 three-pointers over his first two seasons, while Ferdinando has shattered Babson's rookie record of 56 three-pointers and ranks fifth on the program's single season list with 82 trifectas. 

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS
•     O'Toole has set a new career high with 234 rebounds this winter, which are tied is tied for 12th on the program's single-season list with All-American Jim Pierrakos '92 (1991-92) and are the most since Bryant Richards '96 pulled down 256 boards in 1994-95.
•    O'Toole, who chased down nine offensive boards against Salve Regina, ranks fifth in Division III averaging 4.15 offensive rebounds per game on the year. 
•    One of nine players in program history with more than 700 career boards, O'Toole passed John Wickey '15 for eighth place last Wednesday and now has 747 career rebounds.
•    Since the statistic began being tracked at Babson in 1999-2000, O'Toole's 108 offensive rebounds this winter are a single-season record and his 320 career offensive boards are 99 more than any other player over the last 26 seasons. 

SECOND-HALF SURGE
•    Since dropping its fourth straight game to slip to 6-5 overall and 0-2 in the NEWMAC with a loss to Clark back on January 4, the Beavers have won 14 of their last 15 games while recording 11 double-digit victories. 
•    Babson has averaged 78.1 points and 1.18 points per possession during this stretch while shooting 46.5 percent overall and 52.3 percent on two-point attempts. 
•    Defensively, the Green and White is limiting opponents to 61.3 points and just 0.92 points per possession while forcing over 15 turnovers per game and holding its foes to just 30.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. 

BABSON TRENDS
•    Senior Tyler Lauder enters the postseason ranked fourth in the NEWMAC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66), seventh in blocked shots (1.0), eighth in assists (2.9) and 11th in rebounding (6.1). 
•    Ferdinando has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and has knocked down at least two three-pointers 11 consecutive outings, while Mulvey has reached double figures in 14 games in a row.
•    Murphy, who is shooting 41.9 percent on the year from three-point range, is averaging 10.8 points on 64 percent shooting (16-of-25) over the last five games. 
•    O'Toole, who ranks second in the NEWMAC with six double-doubles, has grabbed multiple offensive rebounds in 10 consecutive outings and has at least one steal in each of the last 16 games. 
•    Babson has attempted at least 20 three-pointers in every contest this season and in each of its last 35 games dating back to late January of last year. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers have won their last seven games inside Staake Gymnasium and are 11-2 on the year at home.
•    Babson is 17-3 this winter when shooting at least 40 percent from the field.
•    The Green and White is a perfect 8-0 on the year when forcing at least 16 turnovers. 
•    The Beavers are 16-0 this season when outrebounding their opponents. 
•    Babson is 12-1 this year when holding its foes below 70 points.
•    The Green and White is 15-1 this winter when making at least 10 three-pointers.