Babson Park, Mass. – Brian Vayda (Sturbridge, Mass.) scored 22 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and visiting Clark University raced past Babson College 63-48 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars not only swept the season series with the Beavers for the first time since 2007-08, but they secured a berth in the upcoming NEWMAC Tournament. Their five wins in conference action snaps a five-year stretch of consecutive 4-8 league marks.

Clark (11-9, 5-3 NEWMAC) shot 51 percent (23-for-45) from the field, including an impressive 8-of-16 showing from three-point range.

The 23 point output for Vayda marked the 30th time in his career that he has reached 20 points or more and gives his 1,675 career points, good for fourth on the school's all-time list just ahead ofDan Trant (1,643). He also added nine rebounds to his stat line, pushing past the 800-rebound barrier (805) – becoming just the third player in school history to collect that many boards, joining Jason Qua (891) and Kevin Clark (1,450).

After falling behind early, Babson used a 14-2 run that featured seven points from Palazini to take a 14-6 lead with 11:36 to go in the first half. The Beavers later led 24-22 after a Palazini jumper with 3:24 remaining in the period, but Clark scored the final 10 points of the half, including three points apiece fromTyler Veretto (South Windsor, Conn.) and junior Jake Gubitose (Fiskdale, Mass.), to go up 32-24 at the intermission.

The Beavers had no answer for Vayda in the second half, as the veteran forward hit four triples in the first nine minutes of the stanza – the last of which sparked a 10-0 run that pushed the visitors' advantage to 19 at 56-37. Vayda scored the first eight points of that decisive run as the Cougars held on for the 63-48 win.

Veretto came off the bench and added 11 points for the Cougars, who now hold a commanding two-and-a-half game lead over the Beavers in the race for a top-four seed in the NEWMAC Tournament.

Junior Matt Palazini (Franklin, Mass.) made five trifectas of his own to finish with 21 points for Babson (11-11, 3-6 NEWMAC), while senior Russell Braithwaite (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 10 points and seven boards.

Clark will waste little time in returning to the hardwood as they step out of conference play to host Tufts University on Monday at 6:00 p.m.