Babson Park, MA --- First-year Joey Flannery (Acton, MA) scored 20 points and Babson College opened the game on a 24-4 run en route to a 71-62 victory over third-ranked WPI in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Staake Gymnasium. 

With its third straight victory Babson is now 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the league, while WPI, which has dropped two straight games, falls to 18-3 overall and 8-2 in the NEWMAC. 

Senior Kenny Ross (Furlong, PA) added 13 points, a game-high seven assists and four rebounds for the Beavers. Juniors David Mack (Holden, MA) and John Wickey (Manchester, NH) each chipped in with 10 points, while classmate Eric Dean (Gilford, NH) had eight points in his return to the lineup. Wickey also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. 

Junior Domenick Mastascusa (North Reading, MA) posted a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Engineers, going 12-for-12 from the free throw line. Senior Ryan Kolb (Southington, CT) and junior Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) each had 12 points, and sophomore Zach Karalis (North Andover, MA) dished out a team-high four assists. 

Flannery opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers and Babson scored on five of its first six possessions to build a 12-2 lead just 4:22 into the opening half. Wickey then scored eight of the next 10 points for the Beavers, capping a 10-0 spurt with a bucket to make it 24-4 with 10:08 left in stanza. 

The Green and White made 11 of its first 16 shots over the first 10 minutes while the Engineers started just 2-of-15 from the floor. 

WPI got back within 32-25 late in the first half using eight points from Kolb and four from Mastascusa to spark a 21-8 run, but Flannery added four late free throws and Babson went into the locker room leading 36-28. 

The Beavers scored their first 12 points of the second half in the paint and built a 48-32 advantage with 14:14 left in the game. The Engineers slowly chipped away, getting within six at 54-48 following four consecutive free throws from Mastascusa. Babson responded though, getting back-to-back hoops from Dean and Ross, followed by a layup from first-year Sam Bohmiller (Franklin, MA) off a feed from Ross, to push the lead back to 60-48 at the 4:44 mark. 

WPI cut the deficit to single digits once more, pulling within 62-54 after first-year Marcus Middleton (Stoughton, Mass.) converted a layup following a steal by classmate Ian Converse (Woodstock, CT) with 2:51 remaining, but the Beavers went 7-for-9 at the free throw line over the final 2:33 to seal their first victory over the Engineers since 2010. 

The Green and White shot 52.1 percent (25-for-48) and outscored WPI 36-18 in the paint and 13-6 off turnovers. The Engineers shot just 31.7 percent (20-for-63) from the floor, but were a perfect 17-for-17 at the free throw line. They also scored 17 of their 19 second-chance points after halftime. 

Both teams return to action on Wednesday night as Babson travels to Springfield for a 7:30pm tipoff, while WPI is at MIT at 6pm. 

Release Courtesy Babson Sports Information