WORCESTER, Mass.—Sophomore Joey Flannery (Acton, Mass.) poured in a season-high 36 points, and 11th-ranked Babson College closed the game with a 14-4 run over the final 5:25 to defeat 10th-ranked WPI, 59-55, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Harrington Auditorium.

With its seventh consecutive win, Babson is now 19-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play. WPI, which entered the game having won six of its last seven games, drops to 17-4 overall and 7-3 in the NEWMAC.

After being held to just four points in the teams' first meeting three weeks ago, Flannery went 14-of-24 from the field and 8-of-10 at the free throw line. Senior John Wickey (Manchester, N.H.) finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while classmate David Mack (Holden, Mass.) added eight points, a game-high 10 boards, and a career-high seven assists for the Beavers.

Senior Sam Longwell (Acton, Mass.) finished with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting for the Engineers. Junior Zach Karalis (North Andover, Mass.) scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, and first-year Obi Obiora (Brookline, Mass.) chipped in with eight points and five boards on the afternoon.

The Green and White, which never trailed by more than three in the opening stanza, used a 10-4 run late in the period to seize a three-point halftime edge. Back-to-back hoops by Flannery and Wickey made it 23-19, and after the Engineers closed to within 25-23 on a jump shot by Obiora, the duo each knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Beavers their biggest lead of the stanza at 29-23 just 1:19 from halftime.

WPI first-year Shane Farley (Burlington, Mass.) cut the deficit in half with a corner trey, and Obiora answered a Flannery bucket with a layup just before the buzzer to cut the Babson lead to 31-28 at the break. Flannery, who scored 18 first-half points, and Wickey combined for 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting in the opening 20 minutes for the Beavers.

Longwell scored the first six points of the second half to put WPI in front 34-31 at the 17:55 mark. Back-to-back hoops by Flannery gave the Beavers a 37-36 lead with 15:07 to play, but a pair of three-pointers by Karalis sandwiched around a bucket from junior Aaron Davis (Marshfield, Mass.) put the Engineers ahead 47-43 with 10:11 remaining in the contest. The Green and White again closed within two, but one free throw from Longwell, and another trey from Karalis gave the hosts their biggest lead of the game at 51-45 with 6:16 left.

Wickey and Flannery combined for four free throws over the next three possessions as Babson cut its deficit to 51-49. Flannery gave the Green and White a one-point edge when he converted a three-point play, and pushed the lead to 54-51 with 3:45 to go by converting a layup. Longwell trimmed the WPI deficit to one by draining a pair of free throws with 3:20 left  before both teams went scoreless over their next three possessions.

Flannery knocked down a pair at the charity stripe with 1:07 to play to make it 56-53, but Obiora answered with a hoop while being fouled at the other end to again pull the Engineers within a point with 46 seconds left. Obiora was unable to complete the three-point play, and the Beavers nearly turned it over on their next possession, but Mack corralled a loose ball and found a cutting Flannery for a reverse layup to push the lead back to 58-55 with 22.5 seconds remaining.

WPI had a pair of shots to tie the game in the closing seconds, but three-pointers by Longwell and Karalis wouldn't go down, and senior Eric Dean (Gilford, N.H.) sealed the win by making 1-of-2 at the line with 0.9 seconds remaining.

The Green and White shot just 39.6 percent (19-of-48), and were 0-of-12 from beyond the arc on the afternoon, but outscored the Engineers 21-6 at the free throw line. The Beavers also held a 30-22 edge in paint scoring, and outrebounded the hosts, 36-30.

WPI also shot 39.6 percent (21-of-53), but scored just two points off of 10 offensive rebounds.

Both teams return to action on Wednesday as Babson hosts Springfield at 7 p.m., while the Engineers will take on MIT in a 6 p.m. tip-off.

GAME NOTES: Babson is now 42-30 all-time against WPI, and picked up its first win at Harrington Auditorium since 2004, which snapped a 14-game losing streak…the Beavers' 9-1 start in conference play matches the 2001-02 and 2002-03 teams for the best 10-game NEWMAC start in program history…Babson is 9-0 on the road this season and has won 13 consecutive road games going back to February 1, 2014…Saturday's 0-of-12 effort from beyond the arc marked the first time in 110 games that the Beavers have not made a three-point field goal going back to a 49-41 victory at Clark on January 22, 2011...Flannery, who leads the league in scoring (20.4 points), has now netted 30 points or more seven times during his career…Wickey has now reached double figures in scoring in 24 of the last 25 games going back to last season.