NEW LONDON, Conn. -

In an outstanding game in which neither team led by more than seven points, the Beavers of Babson College came out victorious by a final score of 74-72. Senior guard Nate Amato(Hanson, MA) sunk two free throws with 20 seconds to go to give Babson the lead and ultimately send them home with the win. Babson moves to 11-6 on the season, 5-3 NEWMAC. The Beavers will next host Emerson on Saturday January 25th at 1:00 PM.

In the first half, the two squads were stellar on both sides of the ball, trading blows for the first 20 minutes. Ultimately, CGA went into the half leading 42-38. In the first, there were five ties and nine lead changes with no lead for either side larger than five. Coast Guard took their largest lead of the half in the final seconds of the half when Colin Huang(Irvine, CA) showed his strength underneath the basket with a contested layup to put the Bears up four. The physical play put the teams at the line 25 times in the first, with the Beavers and Bears combining to make 24 of their 25 free throws, Coast Guard going 14-14.

In the second, both teams continued the excellent play from the first and set up a final five minutes of can't miss basketball. While Coast Guard led for nearly the entire half, Babson never let their deficit get anywhere near out of reach with the Bears largest lead at seven. The teams shot similarly from the field, 41.4%(Babson) and 44%(CGA) but the Bears had the edge from long range 33.3% to 16.7%. 

With 3:15 left, Colin Huang hit a three pointer to give the freshman a career high 15 points and give the Bears a slight cushion with a four point lead. In the game, Huang was second on the Bears in scoring, trailing just Declan Rooney(Seattle, WA) who had 20. Just over a minute later, Cameron Brown(Ellicott City, MD) had an explosive block which he followed up with a strong contested layup conversion on offense seconds later to put the Bears up three. The game would then go scoreless for over a minute until Nate Amato scored with 52 seconds remaining to cut the Bears lead to just one. 30 seconds later, the aforementioned Amato was fouled and converted both shots of his 1 and 1 opportunity at the line to put the Beavers up one. On their final possession, Bears center Cameron Brown put up a desperation three at the buzzer. The ball kissed off the glass and hit the rim, narrowly bouncing out to give Babson(who led for only 41 seconds in the half) the last second win. 

Trevor Parks(Oldsmar, FL) and Elijah Parent(Bristol, CT) led the Bears in assists with three each. Both men were excellent from beyond the arc as well with Parent going 2-4 and Parks 3-4. Declan Rooney paced CGA in rebounds with seven. 

The Bears, who fall to 7-10 on the year, 3-5 NEWMAC get nearly a week off before facing Emerson on the road next Wednesday January 29th at 7:00 PM.