Springfield, Mass. - January 8, 2022 - In their first conference road game of the season, the Springfield College men's basketball team battled tough in an 83-74 setback to Babson in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) clash on Saturday in Staake Gymnasium.

Babson picked up its fourth-consecutive victory to improve to 9-4, 2-0 against conference foes while the Pride dipped to 2-9, 0-2. 

Offensively, Springfield was paced by a pair of career-best outings as Nick Bray (Hartford, Conn.) pumped in 21 points and Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) netted 20 points to go along with five steals.  Ty Garry (Southington, Conn.) chipped in 11 points and six boards and Jack Meagher (Sydney, Australia) contributed nine points and six caroms of his own. 

James Welch (Needham, Mass.) knocked down five three-pointers and scored a season-high 21 points, while first-year Nate Amado (Hanson, Mass.) finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists for the Beavers. Mitchell Kirsch (Atkinson, N.H.) added 12 points and five boards, while Kieran Dorney (Garden City, N.Y.) chipped in with 11 points and a team-high six rebounds in the win.

The Pride snagged a 7-2 lead just over three minutes into the game when Costa swiped a Babson pass and finished in transition, only to have the hosts use a 17-9 burst to gain their first lead of the game at 19-16 on a triple from Welch at the 10:28 mark.  Springfield would respond with a 7-0 burst, capped off by a bucket from Tre Hodge (Springfield, Mass.) as he finished through contact with 7:54 on the clock to give the Pride a 23-19 advantage. Babson would battle back to open up a 29-27 lead with under three to play, but another seven-point run that ended with an inside score from Meagher gave Springfield a 34-29 cushion that would ultimatley turn into a 34-32 edge at the halftime break. 

Babson opened up the second half with a 7-1 push as a pair of freebies from Aaron Gao gave the hosts a 39-35 lead just over two minutes in. The first 10-plus minutes of the second half featured seven ties and 11 lead changes with the teams never separated by more than five points. Bray followed five straight points by Dorney with six of his own during a 7-0 spurt that put Springfield in front 56-54 at the 10:19 mark as Garry finished at the rim with his left hand. Welch responded with a pair of three-pointers and eight points in all as the Beavers answered with a 12-2 burst to go back in front 66-58 with 7:03 remaining in the game.

Down 69-61 with under six minutes to go, Costa scored seven of the Pride's next eight points to trim the margin to 72-69 with 3:17 left.  Beau Smith (Germantown, N.Y.) went 2-for-2 at the free throw line on the ensuing possession and Amado scored on back-to-back trips to extend the Babson lead to 78-69 with less than 90 seconds to play as the hosts held on for the win. 

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