WORCESTER, Mass. – Visiting Babson held Clark to 29 percent shooting in the second half en route to a 49-41 win in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.
The Beavers improve to 8-8 overall and 3-2 in league play, while the Cougars, who have dropped three straight and six of their last seven, slip to 6-12 overall and remain the lone winless team in conference play.
The game started out extremely slow as each team had only one basket apiece in the first four minutes of action. Clark finally seemed to find some continuity, moving ahead 15-7 with a little less than ten minutes left in the opening half following a Drew Billington (Fairfield, Conn.) fast break finish.
Sophomore Russell Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.) kept the Beavers close, scoring seven of their final nine points courtesy of some aggressive drives to the basket and hard work on the offensive glass helping make the halftime score 23-18.
The game stayed tight through most of the second half but with the score tied at 37 with a little more than six minutes remaining, Braithwaite and junior Kris Noonan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) sparked an 8-2 run capped by a Braithwaite inside hoop to give the Beavers a 45-39 edge.
Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass.) answered back with a basket of his own at the 3:37 mark to make the score 45-41 but the Cougars would not score again as they missed their final four shots and committed three turnovers in the final two minutes.
Neither team shot the ball effectively, with Babson making just 36 percent of their attempts (16-for-44) and Clark connecting on just 18-of-52 shots (34 percent).
The Beavers held a sizable edge in points from the free throw line (17-4) and points off of turnovers (18-8) and the teams combined to go 1-for-18 from behind the arc.
Braithwaite led all scorers with 15 points in 28 minutes, while Noonan added 11 in just 18 minutes.
No Clark player reached double figures but Vayda finished with nine points and ten rebounds. Jeff Tagger (Brockton, Mass.) finished with eight points and a career-high seven rebounds and D.J. Bailey added five points and eight rebounds.
Babson, which has won three of their last four games, returns to Worcester on Wednesday when they visit WPI for a 5:30pm game, while Clark plays host to Springfield.
Note: Taken from a Clark University press release.