BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Joey Flannery (Acton, Mass.) poured in a career-high 43 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, helping visiting Babson College to a pivotal 77-71 overtime victory over Emerson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Brown-Plofker Gymnasium.
With its fourth win in the last five games, Babson is now 14-5 overall and 5-3 in in the conference, while Emerson drops to 10-9 overall and 3-5 in the NEWMAC.
Flannery was 13-of-18 from the field and 12-of-18 at the free throw line for the game. He also buried a career-high five three-pointers for the Beavers, while junior John Wickey (Manchester, N.H.) added 14 points and nine rebounds. Classmate David Mack (Holden, Mass.) grabbed a game-high 14 boards and senior Kenny Ross (Furlong, Pa.) dished out a game-high seven assists against no turnovers while playing all 45 minutes.
Senior Jon Goldberg (Stowe, Vt.) led four players in double figures with 23 points to go along with nine rebounds for the Lions. Sophomore Michael Thorpe (Newton, Mass.) finished with 16 points, eight boards and five assists, while first-year Brian Hurley (South Boston, Mass.) and junior Eli Kell-Abrams (Berkeley, Calif.) chipped in with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Emerson emerged from a first half that featured three ties and eight lead changes with a 35-30 lead at the break. Sophomore Tyson Hallowell (Lincoln, Mass.) put the Lions on top 26-25 with a pair of free throws at the 3:13 mark, and Kell-Abrams sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around another trifecta from Goldberg on their next three possessions to take a seven-point edge just 55 seconds from halftime.
Flannery had 19 of Babson's 30 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting while Emerson held the rest of the team to just 4-of-20 from the floor over the first 20 minutes.
The Beavers took their first lead of the second half on a layup by Wickey as part of a 13-4 run. Trailing 43-40 with 10:27 to go in the game, Wickey and Flannery combined to score the next 13 Babson points, capped by a layup from Flannery, to go ahead 53-47 with 5:28 left.
Babson led 55-50 with 2:18 to go before the Lions used five straight free throws, three from Goldberg and two from Hurley, to pull even with 1:27 remaining in regulation. A Flannery three-point play put the Beavers back in front 58-55, but four straight points from Goldberg, including a game-tying jumper with 26 seconds left, sent the game to overtime tied at 59-59.
The Green and White never trailed in the extra session, getting back-to-back three-pointers from Ross and first-year Sam Bohmiller (Franklin, Mass.), followed by a layup from classmate Charlie Rice (Barnstable, Mass.), to build a 67-59 lead with 2:41 to go.
Emerson got within five, but Babson went 8-for-8 at the free throw line over the final 2:10 to seal the win.
The Beavers shot just 39.7 percent (23-for-58) on the afternoon, but committed just six turnovers and held a 42-36 edge on the glass.
Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson hosts Wheaton at 6 p.m., while Emerson travels to WPI for a 5:30 p.m. start.
GAME NOTES: Babson is now 15-2 all-time against Emerson and has won three straight in the series going back to 2012…The Beavers are now 11-2 on the year when scoring 75 points or more…Babson is 2-1 this season in overtime and is 4-2 in games decided by six points or less…Saturday's victory marked the first time this season that the Beavers were victorious when trailing at halftime.