Box Score BABSON PARK, Mass. – Leading by 15 points with less than three minutes to go, MIT held off a furious rally by Babson College to take a 71-66 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball victory this evening. The win broke the Engineers' five-game losing skid to the Beavers and move MIT into a three-way tie with Babson and WPI atop the NEWMAC standings.
MIT (12-3, 4-1 NEWMAC) held an early 5-0 lead on a three-point shot from senior Ryan Frankel (New York, N.Y.), but Babson (10-5, 4-1 NEWMAC) fought back and used a 9-0 run midway through the first half to take its first lead of the night at 15-13 on a layup by junior Joey Flannery (Acton, Mass.). The Beavers' advantage proved to be short-lived, however.
Back-to-back-to-back treys by freshman
Bradley Jomard (Paris, France), Frankel, and senior
Justin Pedley (Kennewick, Wash.) quickly erased the Babson advantage, tuning the game back in MIT's favor at 24-15 with five minutes left. The Beavers cut it back to three points twice on Flannery jumpers, but a three by Pedley at the buzzer had the Engineers up 34-23 at the half.
MIT continued to take advantage of hot shooting from long range, draining another pair of threes in the first five minutes of the second half to build its lead to 44-28 after Pedley hit one at 14:45. The Engineers still held a 14-point bulge midway through the half when Frankel drained a shot, but Babson picked up three straight points at the free thrown line and slowly started to edge its way back into the game.
A three by Flannery and a layup from Isaiah Nelson with 6:46 left brought Babson back within seven at 54-47. But MIT came back and picked up key threes from Frankel and Jomard that helped the Engineers push their lead back to 15 with 2:27 left when freshman
Tim Roberts (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) hit on a layup.
Babson was not done and, aided by four MIT turnovers, outscored the Engineers 13-1 over the next two minutes. Flannery and junior Charlie Rice (Barnstable, Mass.) hit threes during the run and the Beavers had it down to three points at 67-64 with 34 ticks left when freshman Tyler Conlon (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.) hit one of two free throws. Frankel then sank a pair from the line with 25 second to go to make it a two-possession game and the Engineers hung on to take the win.
Jomard and Flannery shared game-high honors in scoring, with each finishing with 21. Frankel added 19 points and nine assists for MIT, with Pedley and Roberts each chipping in 11 points. Roberts completed a double-double with a team-high 10 rebounds for the Engineers. Nelson added 13 points for Babson, with Flannery and Rice leading the team with six boards.
MIT will return home for its next game, hosting Emerson College at the Rockwell Cage on Saturday, January 23 at 2:00 p.m.
