NEWTON, Mass.—Junior Joey Flannery (Acton, Mass.) led all players with 22 points and drained two free throws with five seconds remaining to lift 10th-ranked Babson College over Lasell College, 74-72, in non-conference men's basketball action on Tuesday night at the Lasell Athletic Center.
Babson, which extended the nation's longest road winning streak to 15 games, is now 3-0, while Lasell falls to 0-1.
Flannery, who went 10-of-13 at the free throw line, also pulled down a game-high 11 boards to lead the Beavers. Junior Matthew Droney (Canton, Mass.) matched his career high with 14 points and classmate Isaiah Nelsen (North Andover, Mass.) posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Bradley Jacks (Fort Washington, Md.) also scored 11 points in the win.
Senior Logan Liberty (Duxbury, Vt.) paced four Lasers in double figures with 16 points to go along with eight boards. Classmate Pat Marchand (Cranston, R.I.) added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Trailing by seven with under five minutes to go, Babson closed with an 11-2 run to take its only lead of the second half on Flannery's late free throws. Droney and Flannery combined of the Beavers' final 11 points, and first-year Tyler Colon (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.) came up with two key steals and a put back to tie the game at 72 with 1:00 remaining. Lasers' junior Yordan Villalon's (Miami, Fla.) last-gasp three-point attempt was well wide just before the final horn.
The Green and White matched its biggest lead of the night at 24-15 on two free throws by juniorSam Bohmiller (Franklin, Mass.) with 6:33 left in the first half, only to see Lasell close the stanza with a 25-11 run. The Lasers scored on 10 straight possessions and buried five three-pointers, including two apiece from sophomores Scott Arsenault (Walpole, Mass.) and Derek McMahon (Hatfield, Mass.), to take a 40-35 halftime edge.
The Beavers got back within one at 40-39 on a hoop by Droney less than two minutes into the second half, but Lasell countered with an 11-3 spurt to grab its biggest lead of the contest at 51-42 with 14:11 to play. Babson twice cut its deficit to two midway through the period, but the Lasers answered both times, pushing its advantage back to 70-63 on a jumper by Villalon with 4:44 remaining.
Despite shooting just 41.3 percent (26-of-63), the Green and White outscored Lasell 20-7 at the free throw line to go along with 16 points off turnovers and 12 second-chance points. The Beavers also finished with a 40-37 edge on the glass.
Lasell shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) and knocked down seven three-pointers, but was just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second half.
Babson returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Elms at 2 p.m., while Lasell travels to Keene State on Thursday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 10-3 all-time against Lasell and have won five of the last six in the series going back to 2010.
• Since 2006, eight of the 10 games between Babson and Lasell have been decided by five points or less.
• Babson has now won 21 straight games when scoring at least 60 points.
• Flannery has averaged 23.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in three career games against the Lasers.