Springfield, Mass. - February 9, 2022 - The Springfield College men's basketball was defeated by visiting Babson, 96-71, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Wednesday evening in Blake Arena. 

Babson improved to 16-6, 9-2 in conference play, while the setback dropped Springfield to 5-15, 3-8.

Jacob Morales (Montvale, N.J.) scored a team-best 18 points and grabbed six boards while going 7-of-11 from the field, while Collin Lindsay (East Longmeadow, Mass.) chipped in 12 points.  Springfield shot 28-for-61 (46%) from the field, but just 7-of-26 from deep. 

Babson set the tone early in the first half by connecting on 10 three pointers in the opening 20 minutes of play and finished the game going 18-for-33 (55%) from deep.  Kiernan Dorney scored a game-high 21 points, including five trifectas, and hauled in 10 boards, while Mitchell Kirsch netted 16 points to go along with seven assists, and James Welch tallied 17 points behind five three-pointers.

Lindsay knocked down a three-pointer just under two minutes into the game to give Springfield an 8-5 lead, but Dorney would respond with eight-straight points of his own to give the visitors a lead they would not relinquish at 14-8 with 16:23 on the clock.  After Andrew Rocci (Hanover, Mass.) sliced through the paint for a bucket to pull the Pride within 19-17 with 12:13 to play, the Beavers rattled off a 9-0 burst over the next three-plus minutes to extend their lead to 11 points following a second-chance bucket from Andrew Gao.  Over the final 5:12 of the first half, Babson used a 15-4 run capped off by a Kirsch triple in the final seconds to head into the break with a 47-29 advantage. 

A pull-up triple from James Welch at the 14:58 mark allowed Babson to go up 58-37, but the Pride would use a 12-5 spurt to make it a 14-point contest after Zeke Blauner (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) finished in transition.  However, Babson answered back with a 9-2 burst, as Kirsch converted in the lane to push the lead back to 21 points.  From there, the visitors to pull away for the confrence win, despite Springfield shooting 16-for-29 (55%) from the field in the final 20 minutes of play. 

Next up for Springfield will be a home game against Emerson at 12 pm on Saturday. 

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