WORCESTER -- The top-seeded WPI men's basketball team was upset by fourth-seeded Babson, 73-57, in the NEWMAC Tournament semifinals on Thursday night at Harrington Auditorium. 

The Beavers (14-13) advance to the NEWMAC Tournament Championship game for the second straight year, now seeking a repeat title. The Engineers (22-5), the NEWMAC regular season champions, will await word of a possible postseason bid on Monday at 1pm. 

Led by a game-high 36 points from Steph Baxter (Worcester, MA), Babson turned a close first-half into large second-half advantage. The Beavers shot 46.3% (25-54) from the field and 3.75% (9-24) from three while out-rebounding WPI, 30-24. Baxter added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals to his stat line. 

Babson will now square off against second-seeded Clark, who topped sixth-seeded Emerson, 78-70, at home tonight. The championship game will be played on Saturday, February 24 at Clark, with the time to be determined. 

Also for Babson, Nate Amado (Hanson, MA) finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, with Timmy O'Toole (Milton, MA) recording 11 points and David Cross (Cinnaminson, N.J.) adding 10. Tyler Lauder (Malvern. PA) led the Beavers with 12 rebounds. 

For WPI, John Adams (Douglas, MA) tallied another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, both team-highs. Aidan Callahan (Rowley, MA) notched 10 points with six rebounds, while J.R. Newman (Havertown, PA) had 10 points and three steals. Donovan Sevilla (San Ramon, CA) and Tim Reidy (Needham. MA)picked up eight and seven points, respectively. 

The Engineers scored the first bucket of the game, but the teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes of play. Neither team led by more than two, until a 5-0 surge for the Beavers gave them a slight 16-13 edge at the 11:53 mark. WPI answered to go back up 19-18 on a Newman lay-up, but Babson got five straight to make it 25-19 with 8:48 left in the half. 

WPI answered with the longest run for either team, using an 11-3 advantage, including seven points from Adams, making it 30-26 with 4:40 on the clock. Babson countered with eight straight points, going up 34-30, but WPI got an Adams hook shot to go before the end of the half, closing the gap to 34-32. 

The Beavers scored the first four points of the second half to extend the lead to six (38-32) before WPI battled back with an 8-1 edge to go up by one (40-39). Babson got hot from three, using threes from Cross,  Baxter, and O'Toole to spark a 13-2 run that gave the visitors the largest lead of the game, at 52-42 with 10:26 to play. 

WPI got the deficit back down to six (52-46), but another Babson run, this one 11-1, pushed the lead to 16 (63-47) with 5:05 to play. The Engineers got the lead down to 13 on a Sevilla pull-up jumper, but the Beavers' offense finished the victory.