Springfield, Mass. - January 7, 2023 - The Springfield College men's basketball team dropped a 59-55 conference game to visiting Babson College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tilt on Saturday in Blake Arena. 

The win lifts Babson to 8-5, 1-1 in conference play, while Springfield dropped to 3-10, 0-2.  

Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) contributed nine points and nine rebounds and Panayiotis Kapanides (New Bedford, Mass.) added nine boards and eight points of his own for the Pride.  Springfield held a 34-26 scoring advantage in the paint and a slight 43-42 edge on the glass.  For Babson, Andrew Kirkpatrick scored a game-high 18 points and Aaron Gao tallied 10 off the bench. 

Babson would open up a 10-3 lead at the 13:57 mark after Tyler Lauder finished inside and would later push their advantage to 22-12 when Kirkpatrick scored at 8:06 following a Springfield turnover. The hosts would respond with a 6-0 burst, getting a jumper from Nick Bray (Hartford, Conn.) at the top of the key to make it a 22-18 contest with 5:16 on the clock. Babson would regain a seven-point cushion before John Paulino (Bedford, Mass.) got to the rim in the final seconds as the teams went into the break with the Beavers holding a 33-28 edge.

A jumper from Fitzpatrick with just under eight minutes left in regulation gave Babson a 48-39 lead, but Springfield would surge ahead and gain a 50-49 edge as the hosts poured on an 11-0 runover the next five-plus minutes.  Blische and Daryl Costa (Providence, R.I.) would each score four points in the burst before Bray knocked down 1-of-2 from the line to put the Pride aheads by one.  The next time down the floor, Gao buried an elbow jumper to knot things up, and after Springfield came up empty out of a timeout, John Gorgol drilled a corner three to put the visitors in the lead for good inside the final minute of play.  Kirkpatrick would make all six of his free throw attempts down the stretch as the Beavers held off Springfield for the conference win.  

Springfield will next travel to Wheaton for a conference clash on Wednesday at 7 pm. 

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